Snafu
by Shivani
Summary: Slash, Squall.Seifer - The same old story, except not. Squall does things differently from the beginning, starting a cascade of changes. Plot goes off the canon rails to a fair degree, but certain things must still happen and do.
1. One

**Title**: Snafu  
**Date**: 07 May – 9 June 2011  
**Pairings**: Squall/Seifer, implied Irvine/Selphie, implied Raijin/Fujin, past Laguna/Raine

**Summary**: The same old story, except not. Squall does things differently from the beginning, starting a cascade of changes. Plot goes off the canon rails to a fair degree, but certain things must still happen and do.

**Spoilers**: Final Fantasy VIII  
**Warnings**: Slash, implied het, swearing, OOC-ness, character bashing, canon mangling

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Square (Square-Enix). No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Consults**: Shotgunnova's game script, Final Fantasy Wiki.  
**Beta**: Batsutousai (again, sort of, pointing out mistakes, making suggestions, and generally putting up with me flailing around in a panic at times)

**Notes**: The story in the game was just so damn stupid too often, and I wasn't nearly as harsh as I could have been in the last time around. It has to change. Major paraphrasing of parts because I don't see the point this time in being so damn specific. Starts almost normal, then derails. And fair warning, I'm pretty nasty to Quistis and Rinoa, so if you like them, you might want to read something else.

* * *

It was widely known to all at Balamb Garden that Squall Leonhart was like a machine. Emotions were nonexistent aside from the occasional flashes of anger, he followed orders and rules, stayed out of trouble, and never once showed any indication that he was a sexual being.

Not widely known to all at Balamb Garden was that Squall was very human indeed. He just saw most of his fellow teens as immature, lacking in focus, and more than a little moronic. He had yet to run across anyone—even Seifer, though he was amusing in his own way and a good sparring partner—who seemed worth the trouble of getting to know. Surely there was no reward in speaking to those who sighed over him, or those who attempted to antagonize him for his general demeanor of iciness and lack of reaction.

Seifer had 'goaded' him into another sparring session. That Squall enjoyed them was not something the blond needed to know. Eschewing the confines of the Garden structure they headed out to a fairly private clearing in the nearby forest, and once there settled themselves the standard distance apart, nodded, then began to duel. It went as they usually went; the two were fairly evenly matched, after all. This time, however, Squall realized that if he did not do something soon Seifer would win, and he was not in the mood to listen to the blond gloat over a victory. Their blades clashed and rang in rhythm as he considered, then, when an opening perfectly presented itself, Squall ducked closer and landed a heavy kiss on Seifer's lips, momentarily stunning his opponent into a lack of movement. And with that it was easy to take advantage of the situation and disarm the blond, winning the match with the edge of his gunblade at Seifer's throat.

It was a good thirty seconds before Seifer responded, and at that he simply pushed the blade away with one heavily-gloved hand, rolled to his feet, retrieved his own gunblade, and shot a very puzzled look at Squall before disappearing into the trees.

Squall smirked and headed off as well. Rumor had it that the next SeeD exam would be soon and he needed to get one of the instructors to proctor his trip to the Fire Cavern. Best to do it as quickly as possible, lest Quistis be given the opportunity to flirt badly with him again. He shook his head in combined bewilderment and disgust. Did she even realize that she vacillated between motherly and flirtatious? How warped was that? He nabbed the first instructor he saw on gaining Balamb Garden and explained the situation, minus the rumor about an upcoming exam. Shortly thereafter he was fulfilling that particular requirement, and soon enough he had Ifrit at his command, to join Shiva and Quetzacoatl, and in plenty of time for class that day.

Seifer kept giving him strange sidelong glances that he ignored, inwardly amused at the continuing reaction of his semi-rival. And sure enough, the upcoming exam was announced during class, and afterward Quistis asked him to stay behind once it was over.

"You haven't been to the Fire Cavern yet, have you? You won't be able to take part in today's SeeD exam if you don't pass this prerequisite. Do you have a good excuse?"

Squall arched a brow at her. "I already went, actually. Is that all?"

"Oh. . . ." She looked disappointed—how shocking. "Well," she said briskly, "be at the lobby on time. That's 1600 hours, all right?"

His jaw tightened minutely at the unnecessary reminder—as if he would forget when less than an hour had passed. Squall nodded and strolled out before she could think of more to say. She must have been competent if she had passed the SeeD exam at fifteen, but that did not make her a leader. She babied some students, nearly ignored others, scolded people when she had to explain things more than once, and looked the other way at the fawning behavior of her fan club. Inconsistent to the end. And eyeing one of her students romantically? Sure, she was only a year older, but it was unprofessional to even hint at it. Not a good way to spend your first year teaching.

Squall made himself scarce until it was nearly time, then changed into his uniform and walked without undue haste to the lobby. A number of other candidates had already arrived and were clustered around Quistis, who appeared to be putting them into groups.

"Squall," she called. "Over here."

He repressed a sigh and strolled over, eyeing her coldly.

"Let's see, you'll be with Zell Dincht," she informed him. "Quite a lively fellow."

He considered objecting to Zell, but thought better of it. Odds were it wouldn't change anything, so there was no use complaining. Squall simply nodded and stepped back a few paces. Zell, in his opinion, was far too hyper and prone to act before thinking things through.

"Zell," she called out.

The blond bounced over like an overeager puppy, making Squall shudder inside, and offered a hand, which he ignored. Zell dropped his hand with a slight frown and said, "Heard Seifer whooped you pretty bad this morning."

Squall arched a brow. How curious. Was Seifer that upset over what happened as to spread lies? Or was Zell just being Zell?

"He's just being a pain in the ass. You should ignore him."

'Maybe you should take your own advice,' he thought, then turned his attention back to Quistis.

"Ah, you two. . . . Seifer is your squad leader." Before Zell could get his mouth open more than a fraction she hastily added, "It can't be changed. Seifer! Are you here?"

His sparring partner approached, looking like a poster boy for cockiness. Behind him trailed the other two members of the disciplinary committee, Raijin and Fujin. He wondered why. Were they there for support and encouragement? Seifer had failed the exam multiple times already; if he failed this one he would be out of Garden.

"You're the squad leader," Quistis informed Seifer. "Good luck."

Seifer tried to stare her down. "Instructor. I hate it when people wish me luck. Save it for someone who actually needs it, eh?"

Quistis nodded. "Okay. Good luck, then."

Seifer snapped his fingers loudly. "Add Instructor Trepe to the list!"

Quistis ignored that and said, "You three make up Squad B, with me as the instructor in charge. As a reminder, teamwork is of the utmost importance. Let's get through this exam, everyone!"

'Everyone?' he thought. 'Maybe she should have said that a little louder so all the other candidates could hear.'

Seifer posed, his gunblade tapping against his shoulder. "Listen up," he barked. "Teamwork means staying out of my way, so don't forget it!"

Headmaster Cid arrived at that point and gave a sappy speech that Squall could not be bothered to listen to—the man always rambled, after all—then followed the others to the garage. And as he sincerely doubted they would be taking a train anywhere he assumed they would be taking ships from the town docks. The ride was spent in contemplation of whether or not Seifer had badmouthed him after their spar. Zell kept bugging him to show off his gunblade, but he ignored him; encouragement could establish an awful precedent.

Once on the boat he sat through a briefing of their objective, ignoring how Seifer rolled his eyes in disgust at such a boring assignment. But when the blond glanced his way Squall tipped him a slow wink, just to see what would happen. Seifer did the faintest of double takes, then looked away. In fact, he said nothing else for the rest of the journey. On arrival they piled out of the ship, pausing when Quistis said, "Squad B, you are to secure the central square," then hastened off, downing any enemy soldier foolish enough to get in their way.

"You two, scout the area for any more enemies," Seifer ordered. A short time later he said, "Well, then, we're on standby 'til the enemy comes. Standby . . . how boring."

And it was boring, standing there quietly, scanning for any enemies sneaking up on their position, and slightly irritating having to listen to the plodding tap of Seifer's gunblade against his shoulder, and the swishing sounds of Zell shadow-boxing. Things livened up considerably when an explosion sounded not far off and a dog raced through the square, barking madly. Only a minute later Squall spotted a group of Galbadian soldiers creeping down one of the streets toward a mountain in the distance with a what looked like a tower jutting up atop it. He quickly edged over to a still bored Seifer and pointed them out. "What do you think?" he asked quietly.

"I think that's our new destination," Seifer said cockily.

Zell bounced over at that point and butted in. "What? That's against orders, man! This is an important exam. We can't just go do whatever!"

Seifer scowled and slashed his blade through the air menacingly. "I don't need any boy scouts, Dincht! Maybe you should just stay here."

Squall arched a brow and murmured so that only Seifer could hear, "Our orders do state that we are to guard this specific area." And after a moment of contemplation the imp of the perverse struck him, so he added, "Or did you want him to stay here so it'd be . . . just the two of us?"

Seifer aimed a slightly wild look his way.

"Then again," he continued in the same murmur, "you might consider sending Zell off to one of the SeeDs while we hold position here. Have him inform them about this development. I don't _think_ that'd break any rules, and we might even get bonus points for it."

Apparently Zell couldn't handle not hearing what Squall was saying. "What, you two are all, like, buddy-buddy now? Orders are orders, man!"

"I don't recall asking your opinion, chicken-wuss," Seifer snapped. "How about you shut the hell up and let the big boys figure this out. Now go back to looking for any enemies coming up on us. You already missed the bunch headed up the mountain, so stop slacking off!"

Squall smirked inside as Zell slouched off dejectedly, temporarily squashed. He would bounce back; he always did.

Seifer shifted his focus and said with uncharacteristic quietness, "I wish you'd seen them sooner. We could have routed them."

"I think they must have crawled part way. By the time I noticed them they were already halfway down the street. It makes me wonder just who didn't see them at all that they got this far. They were hugging the left side of the street, so. . . . Maybe the explosion was a distraction for a squad farther back."

Seifer nodded, eyeing Zell as he made a sweep of the area. "Maybe I _should_ send one of you as a runner. Except, we have no idea where the SeeDs are watching from to judge performance." He scowled and slashed his blade through the air again. "What the hell, eh? Is Trepe spying on us from a second story window or something? Hunkered down on a rooftop and using binoculars?"

Squall's mouth twitched into a near smile at the idea. "I'll make another sweep," he said, then slinked off, keeping a full 180 degrees around the square from Zell, pausing at each street to scan the length for any kind of movement. It seemed like forever passed—it was only an hour—before someone came running toward them along the route they had initially taken. Squall was at the corner of that outlet in a flash, blade ready. He backed off when he recognized a fellow student, and his mouth twitched again when she barreled into the square and tripped over the edge of one of the flagstones, nearly taking a header into the fountain.

She laughed a bit sheepishly. "Er. . . . Squad B?"

Seifer nodded and gestured impatiently.

"New orders. All candidates are to withdraw and be back at the beach by 1900 hours."

"Hey," Seifer said. "Since you're running messages take one for us back to a SeeD. We spotted a group of Galbadian soldiers headed up that mountain, possibly to the tower up there."

She nodded and pivoted, then took off back in the direction she had come from.

Squall glanced at his watch to see they still had a good half hour before they need to withdraw so he started another sweep. Time dragged on interminably until Seifer snapped out, "Let's go!"

They headed back at a fast jog and made it with five minutes to spare, and boarded one of the ships. Seifer settled into the first available seat with a scowl on his face, a scowl that never left the entire ride back to Balamb. He was first off the ship when they docked and immediately headed for his two compatriots. Squall shrugged slightly and made for one of the ground transports. Things had gone much smoother than he had anticipated. Setting Seifer off balance seemed to be a rather effective way of handling the man.

Back at Garden he walked toward the dormitory area, slowing a bit when he noticed the headmaster, Xu, and Quistis clustered near the lobby map. He was able to catch part of their conversation as he sauntered along, seemingly oblivious to it.

"Mission complete!" Xu reported with a salute. "I think we did a pretty good job. The candidates are back safely, right?"

Quistis nodded. "Although we didn't realize the Galbadian army was after the abandoned communication tower. . . . Though Squad B did send a message back with Selphie about a bunch of their men headed up the mountain."

"We received word from the Dollet Dukedom," Cid informed them. "The Galbadian army agreed to withdraw as long as the communication array is maintained and the uplink remains operational."

Xu responded, "Well, in any case, Galbadia is out of there. We could've made more money if they'd stayed and caused more trouble."

And by then Squall was out of range to overhear more so he quickened his pace, anxious to change back into more comfortable clothing. He was halfway there when Seifer hailed him, so he stopped and looked back.

Seifer drew close enough to speak in a normal volume and said, "Did you hear? Turns out that was a communication tower up there. Too bad our orders were to stay put."

Squall arched a brow in response, then murmured, "Galbadia only withdrew on the understanding that the tower remains operational. If we had chased after them it might have vastly extended the conflict. Granted, that would have meant a lot more fighting . . . but then more civilians may have been hurt as well."

Seifer scowled at him. "We could have been heroes."

Squall actually laughed, albeit a bit rustily, causing Seifer to wear that odd look again. "There's a saying you know. The only good hero is a dead hero." He turned and continued on his way, finally gaining the peace of his dorm room. He had enough time to clean his gunblade, get a shower, and change back into his usual sort of clothes before a message came over the PA system asking that all candidates report to the classroom floor hallway.

Six people passed the exam and were promoted to SeeD: Squall; Selphie; Zell; Nida; Verus; and . . . Seifer. Raijin and Fujin, there to witness, began a quiet round of applause, though Squall could tell it was meant almost entirely for Seifer. The six were ushered up to the headmaster's office and given another sappy speech, as well as being given their exam score reports and individualized advice—at least he assumed it was, since he could not overhear what Cid murmured to the others. The headmaster looked like a proud papa and might have rambled on for ages had one of the Garden Faculty not cut him off rather abruptly with a reminder of work yet to be done.

The SeeD Inauguration Ball that evening looked to be an exercise in torture. Another damn uniform, this one even more stiff and uncomfortable, adorned his lean frame. Squall deftly snatched a glass of champagne from a passing server—a member of the kitchen staff in a fancy uniform—and stood nearly behind one of the decorative columns, hoping to not be noticed—to no avail, as Zell found him before ten minutes had passed.

"S'up, man," Zell said, sticking out one hand.

Squall eyed it with distaste and had a sip of his drink.

Zell laughed uncomfortably and dropped his hand. "Same old, huh? Well, congratulations. See you around!" He loped off to pester someone else, much to Squall's relief.

Next up was Selphie, burbling about the Garden Festival committee, and did he want to join? Squall was kinder to her for all her apparent ditziness; she wasn't nearly as annoying as Zell was. She also was not one of those people who eyed him like a tasty lunch. "No," he said quietly, firmly.

"Oh, okay," she responded with no apparent diminishment of cheer. "Worth a try, huh?" She shot a smile at him and loped off, presumably to rope someone else into it.

His newfound sense of relief was shattered when a scan of the room revealed a dark-haired girl on the fringe of the dance floor eyeing him with interest. He knew that look. He saw it multiple times every day from fellow students—and Quistis. Without even stopping to think he slipped back into the shadows and quickly found another place to not quite hide—anything to get away from yet another lustful barracuda. From his new vantage he spotted her again, this time practically pressed against Seifer, who looked to be incredibly annoyed.

Seifer made an irritated gesture, then placed a hand on her shoulder and forcibly turned her around. He pointed—at Headmaster Cid, Squall saw—and gave her a little push. He smiled ever so slightly—the barest twitch at the corner of his mouth—and downed the remainder of his champagne, then slipped away back to his new room.

. . .

He was getting some exercise in the training area the next morning when voices filtered over from the other side of some trees, Seifer's among them. Squall decided to take a breather and lean up against one of the trees. Eavesdropping on people was something of a habit.

"—can't believe it!" Seifer was saying. "I managed to see the contract Cid wrote up for Rinoa's group. There's no cutoff date. Whoever gets sent on that assignment is going to be stuck with her indefinitely."

"Entail?"

"What's the orders, Seifer?"

"Eh, to effect Timber's independence from Galbadian occupation and rule. Right, like that's going to happen this century," Seifer drawled. "Pretty Princess Rinoa's got daddy issues and sees herself as special for throwing away her privileged life to go play freedom fighter. I pity whoever gets sent. It better not be me!"

"General."

"Caraway, yeah. I bet he's pissed. Then again, none of the groups in Timber are at all effective." There was a pause, then, "Hey. . . . Timber has a TV station. I wonder if there's any link between that and the communications tower Galbadia repaired in Dollet."

"But why would they care about that, ya? It's not been used in forever."

Squall could almost hear Seifer shrugging. "Meh. We've wasted enough time. Let's go find a T-Rexaur."

He waited until the sounds of their passage faded before pushing away from the tree, then went in the opposite direction looking for more exercise. Seifer's report of the contract was disquieting, but. . . . why should he worry? It was not like the headmaster would send brand new SeeDs off on a complicated assignment like that, right?

. . .

Squall was appalled to be summoned to the front gate early the next morning. He complied with a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach after packing essentials and strapping his gunblade in place. On arrival he saw Selphie waiting near one of the Garden Faculty. She gave him a cheerful wave hello; the faculty member—well, who knew? The headpiece they all wore disguised and distorted their faces. For all he knew they weren't even human.

"One more minute," the Garden Faculty said testily, glancing at his watch.

And just shy of a minute later Zell approached from the direction of the lobby, riding a forbidden hover-board. As he swooped in for a landing the board malfunctioned and sent Zell flying into a column. A sickening crack was heard followed by howls of pain. Squall would almost bet the Garden Faculty was rolling his eyes in disgust behind that mask.

"Hover-boards are forbidden in Garden—for good reason." The Garden Faculty turned to Selphie, paused, and ordered, "Fetch Maller." Then he focused on Squall and ordered, "Carry Dincht to the infirmary, then return."

Fifteen minutes later he was back, and by then Cid had appeared. Though, why the Garden Faculty gave Zell only a minute more made little sense when the headmaster was not yet present. He pushed the thought aside and turned his attention to the headmaster.

"Well, about your first mission. You are to go to Timber. There you will be supporting a resistance faction. That is your mission. A member of the faction will contact you at Timber Station."

The Garden Faculty added, "This person will talk to you and say, 'The forests of Timber sure have changed.' At this time you must reply, 'But the owls are still around.' That is the password."

Squall's nostrils flared in annoyance.

"Just follow the faction's orders," Cid said. "Squall, you are the squad leader. Use your best judgment based on the situation. Nida and Selphie, you are to support Squall and give your all to carry out the faction's plans." The headmaster waited until the Garden Faculty began to walk away to sidle up to Squall and hand over a strange lamp. "Take this and see if you can't do something with it, all right? I'm told great rewards can come of solving the mystery it presents."

Squall accepted the 'gift' and stowed it before saying, "Sir, what are the details of the contract with the client? Are we helping them for a set period of time, a set number of missions? I have to imagine that sending three brand new SeeDs out so quickly means this won't be of great complexity or difficulty."

Cid suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. "The contract is valid until Timber's independence."

Squall arched a brow; it seemed Seifer's intel on that subject was correct. "I see. Sir, wouldn't that mean three SeeDs could be tied up for years? Surely gaining Timber's independence can't be that simple. Is that an efficient use of personnel?"

Cid looked even more uncomfortable, then started theatrically. "Oh my, I'm going to be late for the meeting! Good luck, you three," he said, then hastily headed back toward Garden.

Squall scowled slightly and turned to his two teammates. "Right. Come on." Maybe the group they were to meet would have a copy he could look at. Outside and halfway to Balamb he pulled the lamp out and analyzed it closely. "There seems to be a Guardian Force inside. Up for it?"

Selphie and Nida both nodded, so the Squall activated it, and the team made short work of the GF locked inside. After that it was a relatively short jog into town and over to the station, where they boarded the train for Timber. Selphie paused at the large windows in the hallway while Squall and Nida headed into the compartment reserved for SeeD, and Squall made himself comfortable at one end of the couch.

Nida, it seemed, was just as quiet as Squall was, or at least, perhaps, he did not yet feel comfortable with the situation, so Squall flipped through one of the magazines waiting on the table, absently noticing that it was over a year out of date. Selphie arrived as he was finishing it and complained of feeling unwell.

"Maybe you should rest."

She walked slowly to the couch and collapsed on it just as a high-pitched, irritating whine started up in Squall's ears. The next thing he knew he was dreaming, present within the dream only as a consciousness, and being forced to witness a day in the life of three Galbadian soldiers. On waking he noticed immediately that Nida looked perfectly fine and shot a questioning look at him.

"Both of you just . . . collapsed. You looked like you weren't in any distress and you seemed to be sleeping, so. . . ."

"You were completely unaffected."

Nida nodded.

Selphie stirred and opened her eyes, then sat up. "What a strange dream. But wow, Laguna was really cool. You two okay?"

"Nothing happened to me," Nida explained. "I watched over both of you while you were unconscious."

"Thanks," she responded, then glanced up as the train's PA system kicked in to request that all passengers begin to collect their belongings. "I feel great! I'm gonna go back out until we get there." With that she hopped up and quit the room.

'Did we have the same dream somehow?' he wondered, slowly getting to his feet. 'And why would either of us dream of soldiers in another country? I don't like that I was in such a vulnerable position.' He paced for a short while—until an announcement stated that they would shortly arrive in Timber—then left the compartment to return to the embarkation room. A few minutes later all three of them were stepping out onto the platform.

Squall glanced around casually, noting a man standing on the steps leading down to the street who was fidgeting restlessly. He gave a slight jerk of his head as a signal and headed forward, drifting to a stop when the man said, "Oh, the forests of Timber sure have changed."

After briefly considering messing up the password in an uncharacteristic attack of childish rebellion he murmured, "But the owls are still around."

"Welcome to Timber, sir. Right this way, please!" Their contact scurried down the remaining steps and off toward a small platform—probably one used for local train traffic only. As they joined him a two-car train pulled up and they were gestured aboard.

A man waiting inside said, "So, you guys are SeeDs?"

'Hasn't anyone ever told you it's impolite to not introduce yourself?' Squall thought, and nodded. "I'm Squall, the squad leader. With me are Selphie and Nida."

"Nice to meet you," the man replied, still not bothering to say his name, but extending his hand. "I'm the leader of the Forest Owls."

Squall's nostrils flared again in annoyance, but he did condescend to nod, ignoring the offer to shake hands.

The man laughed nervously and dropped his hand. "You've already met Watts, so it's just the princess, then."

"It's the princess's nap time, sir," Watts said.

"Ah, man. Hey, Squall, sorry, but could you go get the princess? She's in the last room, up those stairs. Some of our other guys are in a room on the way. Ask 'em if you get lost."

'Like it's possible to get lost on a two car train,' he thought derisively. Squall stared at him until the man cringed back slightly, then said, "We are mercenaries, not gophers."

The man crouched down with one hand wrapped around his stomach and moaned as if in pain, his other hand waving Watts toward the short flight of steps up into the corridor. Squall had serious doubts that the man really had an ulcer and instead faked his way out of things which frightened him. Odd behavior for a member of a resistance group—and this was supposedly the leader?

Watts wrung his hands and scurried off hesitantly, and shortly thereafter a girl Squall recognized as the one he had avoided at the SeeD ball appeared with Watts, a mixed-breed dog trailing behind them.

"I'm so happy you guys are here," she burbled. "I've been sending requests to Garden forever, but nothing. . . . I'm so glad I spoke to Cid directly!" She paused and eyed each of them. "Hey, I remember you from the ball!" she said to Squall, moving closer. "Is it just you three, or is _he_ here, too?"

He arched a brow questioningly.

"Seifer," she clarified. "He showed me how to find Cid. I really didn't think SeeD would come out to help a measly little group like us, but after explaining our situation to him Cid gave the go ahead right away! Now that you guys are here we'll be able to carry out all sorts of plans!"

"Just us three. Squall, Selphie"—he pointed—"and Nida."

"Oh, okay," she said a bit sadly, but he did not miss how she eyed him speculatively. "I'm Rinoa, and this is my partner Angelo." She smiled fondly at the dog. "Let's go over the upcoming mission, okay?"

Inside the nearby door they arrayed themselves around a table with two model trains on it. And after a great deal of unnecessary banter Rinoa got around to explaining the mission, which consisted of swapping the car containing Vinzer Deling—lifelong president of Galbadia—for a substitute the train they were on was towing, so they could force a confrontation.

"Now that the plan is covered let's decide on a party," Rinoa finished with.

"Gathering information is my specialty, sir!" Watts said, then ducked out the door as the as yet unnamed man crouched down again in 'pain'.

"Oh. Well, then it's us four," Rinoa said, then staggered slightly as the train began to move. "Is it time already?" She raced out the door.

'What would they have done if Cid denied the request?' he wondered.


	2. Two

**Written**: 9-10 June 2011

**Notes**: No idea if the kids had names and don't give a damn. Can't be bothered to check. Er, I realized after the fact that I've been using British floor designations. Can't be bothered to correct that. Also, my non-HP fics never get the same kind of attention, so I may as well accelerate the update schedule.

* * *

An hour later they were back in the planning room. Squall was having a hard time repressing his urge to swear and the Forest Owls were huddled together coming up with a new brilliant plan, this time to make a broadcast from the TV station in Timber regarding the declaration of Timber's independence—not that it could possibly be true, especially not when they now knew that the real Deling would be initiating a broadcast personally in a short while. Though, if he was to be fair, the failure of the mission was not entirely the fault of the Forest Owls, but it did point out that their information gathering abilities were not up to par.

Selphie and Nida were examining the materials pinned to the walls and Squall was wondering what sort of mess their next "mission" would result in. After a deep breath to settle himself he stepped over to the Forest Owls to ask about the contract. He barely even parted his lips when Rinoa looked up, beamed at him, and said, "Good timing! We've come up with a plan!"

"Before we get to that, do you have a copy of the contract with Garden I could look at?"

"Oh, sure." Rinoa stood up and went over to a cabinet, pulled some paperwork from it, and returned. "Here."

As he was reading it Selphie and Nida came to look it over as well, but before he could finish deciphering the legalese Rinoa shoved a new piece of paper on top. "I thought that one was really confusing so Cid gave me this."

His jaw tightened momentarily at the interruption, but nevertheless examined the new one. It basically said what he had already overheard Seifer speaking of; they were contracted indefinitely and there would be no substitutes. The only way out of it was to win, die, or quit Garden. 'For the love of Hyne, what is Cid's problem? If this is the kind of contract he thinks is acceptable I bet the Garden Faculty routinely ensure he never makes this kind of decision. But that begs the question of who does make them.'

"This is really vague," Selphie commented. "Until Timber's independence? That could be years from now."

"Hey, you're paid professionals, so no complaining!" Rinoa retorted. "We're going to the station, so—" She paused when Watts and the other man disappeared. "We should be arriving back in town shortly. From there we'll head to the TV station and try to make our broadcast."

A short time later the train slowed and came to a stop so the four of them quit the room. Watts was waiting with some information for them just outside on the platform. "The TV station is pretty close, sir. It's located behind the Timber Maniacs building, so please head in that direction."

Squall glanced around and spied what looked like a tower, but never having been to Timber before that was not exactly helpful. He eyed Rinoa. "Lead the way."

The route took them though a bar and out the back door, so while Watts's information was vaguely correct (the Timber Maniacs building was visible not far from the bar, though not even on the same level of the town), it was ultimately useless. 'Do these people think every SeeD memorizes the layout of every single village, town, and city on the planet?'

The alley continued on past a metal staircase that Rinoa began to climb, stopping at the top in front of a huge screen displaying static. "This is creepy," she commented. "What is that stuff?"

"Signal noise," he said, then turned at the sound of feet pounding up the stairs.

"The president is already in the studio, sir. There are too many guards now so we won't be able to storm the place," Watts said breathlessly, then retreated out of sight.

'And this was unexpected, how?' Squall thought, giving serious consideration already to the idea of quitting Garden if this was the kind of juvenile missions his team would be sent on.

"So we can't just rush in," Rinoa said thoughtfully. "We've gotta come up with a new plan now! If the president leaves, maybe the guards will be gone, too? That's when we do _our_ broadcast. It might not be as influential, but it's better than nothing, right? We don't stand a chance if we take 'em head on, right?"

'Right? Right?' he silently mocked. "We'll fight your enemies based on your decision. That's our duty," he said. 'Though maybe you should consider getting more intelligent people in your resistance organization. Or, I don't know, asking for advice from the professionals.'

"I'm ready for anything," Selphie said excitedly.

"How sad. Act on my decision? That's your duty? Oh, what an easy life it must be, just to follow orders. . . ."

'For the love of Hyne! She hires mercenaries and expects us _not_ to follow orders or something?' A sidelong glanced showed that even Nida was a bit put out by her remarks. "Call it whatever what you want," Squall finally said. "You hired us to help you achieve your goal. I don't think any of us appreciate your slur, though."

Rinoa stepped back, clearly upset. "What? If you have something to say, then say it!"

"According to you we obviously aren't capable of thinking, never mind pointing out the serious flaws in your organization's thinking," he replied coldly. "How serious are you about this? You make plans based on little to no intel and hope it'll work? You don't even consult the professionals you hired until information comes in clearly showing that your plans won't work. How do you think we feel working for a group like yours knowing we could be here indefinitely?"

Rinoa gaped at him for a minute, then narrowed her eyes. "You know, maybe this was all a big mistake. I thought everything would work out fine once SeeD came to help us, but I guess it's not that easy. You were all hired. It's not like you're one of us. Um, let's see. . . . We'll cancel the plan, and we'll disperse for now. We don't stand a chance if we take 'em head on, right?"

"You're not a native, either, from what I hear," Squall pointed out.

Rinoa's eyes went wide and teary. "You guys probably think this is all a game to us," she said with a huff of indignation. "Well, it's not! We're serious. So serious it hurts." She brushed past him and ran down the stairs.

"Maybe you were a little too hard on her," Selphie murmured.

'Seifer was right.' "If this is typical of the resistance groups in this town it's no wonder they're still under Galbadian rule," he said quietly. "Tell me, Selphie, do you honestly disagree with what I said?"

She sighed and slowly shook her head.

"If it's not a game to them, then they need to stop treating it like it is," he said flatly. "Now, I don't know how much time there is. Let's consider the idea of infiltrating and preventing the broadcast. Thoughts?"

Nida stepped a short distance away and looked along the metal catwalk leading to the station. "This looks like a back entrance. There are several windows we might be able to get into. There's nothing which indicates which floor they'd be on, though."

Squall moved to step over as well when the static on the screen cleared without warning. He redirected his focus, snapping his fingers at Nida to join him.

"They're starting already?" Selphie muttered. "So much for that idea."

A man in a pin-striped suit moved into view and stood behind a podium and tapped the microphone. "T-testing . . . 1 . . . 2 . . . testing . . . testing. . . . Ohhhh! P-people of the world! Can you see me! Can you hear me! Oh, this is incredible! Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a recording! This is an actual broadcast over the air! Yes, it's been seventeen years since a live broadcast has been possible! Oh, please excuse me . . . I seem to have lost my composure. We would like to present to you today a message from lifelong president of Galbadia, Vinzer Deling. Ladies and gentlemen, President Deling." He stepped aside and disappeared as another man took his place.

"Greetings. I am Vinzer Deling, lifelong president of Galbadia. Today, I stand before you to make the following proposition. We the people of the world have the power to end all wars."

Selphie crowed and jumped in place. "See, see! It's a peace proposal to the world. I knew it!"

'And how naïve is that?' Squall wondered.

"Unfortunately, there are some trifling problems standing between Galbadia and other nations, and they must be resolved. I plan to convene with other nations' leaders immediately to resolve these problems. At this time, allow me to name the ambassador who will be my representative for the conference, and who will be joining us shortly."

"All this just to introduce an ambassador," Nida muttered, looking a bit skeptical.

"The ambassador is Sorceress—"

'Sorceress?'

Deling was cut off by the intrusion of a masked person wielding a blade. Seconds later Deling crumpled to the floor and the broadcast abruptly returned to static. 'The hell? A gunblade—' His eyes widened. "We need to get in there," he said urgently, then raced off down the walkway.

As it turned out the back door was not even secured, so they entered easily. Down a hallway in the direction of a loud commotion—rather like a stampede, actually—and through a door brought them to the studio. The intruder jumped up from checking Deling's pulse and started to flee, then stopped dead, eyes wide behind the mask.

'Very familiar eyes, not to mention that gunblade,' Squall thought, then stepped forward quickly to rip the mask away. "Seifer!" he hissed. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

To his credit, Seifer barely paused before saying, "Don't have time for this! We need to get out of here!"

Rinoa must have been lurking not far from the screen because she rushed in at that point and squealed on seeing Seifer. She latched onto him quickly and aimed an infatuated look his way before jumping slightly. "We need to go! We gotta get out of town!"

'We?' Squall pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, then gestured sharply. The five of them raced back out and down the corridor, through the door and down the walkway, not stopping until they were back in the bar. He pulled Rinoa away from Seifer (who gave him a grateful look) and over to a spot away from any patrons. He opened his mouth to ask if she had any brilliant ideas when Watts popped up and whispered a little too loudly, "Galbadian forces have mobilized, sir! They've shut down the trains temporarily and are now guarding the exits from town. They even blew up our base."

'Thank you _so_ much, Seifer,' he thought, aiming a glare at his sparring partner, who returned it with a look of confused innocence. To Rinoa and Watts he said, "Is there a relatively safe place in town we can talk?"

"Um. . . ." Rinoa tapped her chin with one finger, then brightened. "Yes! Follow me."

They moved all of a couple of buildings over, Watts disappearing along the way, into a private home. Rinoa waved to a young woman who was preparing a meal in the kitchen area of the ground floor as she dashed up the stairs. "Okay," she said, "we're safe here for now."

Squall nodded and pulled Seifer off to a corner. "Explain."

Seifer eyed him boldly and lifted his chin. "I saw the contract. As soon as I knew they sent three brand new SeeDs here—" He glanced over his shoulder at Rinoa. "I knew there was no way her group could do much more than fumble around."

"So you, also a brand new SeeD, raced off to the rescue? Should I be insulted? Or flattered?" he said dryly, feeling a measure of surprise when Seifer's cheeks gained the slightest hint of colour. "You've been here before and we need to get out of town. Ideas?"

Seifer displayed faint surprise at that knowledge. "Yes," he said slowly, a mischievous gleam suddenly lighting his eyes. "But you won't like it."

Squall arched a brow.

"You're right that I know Timber. I've spent more than one break here. It's also how I know _her_. The Galbadian forces aren't completely incompetent, but they can be gotten around. You, uh, remember those students at Garden who liked to call you girly?"

His jaw tightened momentarily.

"We get a wig for you, something a little less masculine for clothing. . . . We can have Rinoa fetch a couple of large picnic baskets, one for actual supplies and one for your gear. Then we waltz past the guards—maybe the girls can flirt a little—and they'll never know the difference," Seifer said blithely. "They may already have people on the lookout for a group of two males and one female. This way we'd have two males and three females. Well, it'd be better with three males, but we can't have everything."

"I don't do the kinky stuff on the first date, Seifer," he drawled wickedly. "Any _other_ ideas? Such as however you got in without making it obvious to the Galbadians?"

The blond coughed and looked away for a second. When he met gazes again he said, "Well, there is this spot behind one of the buildings, kind of an unused triangular corner the Galbadians never seem to keep an eye on. We could get to it easily enough."

Squall nodded, a slow smile gracing his lips. "All right, then." He pushed away from the wall and stepped into the center of the room. "Rinoa, what about Watts and that other guy."

"Zone?"

"Whatever. Do we need to track them down before we leave?"

"They're really good at finding hiding places," she said with a shake of her head, making him wonder if she cared about anyone but herself.

"Fine. Let's go. Seifer will lead us to a place we can leave from." He turned and lightly tripped down the stairs, stopping midway toward the door when the woman downstairs stepped up and shoved a basket at him.

"I'm sure this won't hurt," she said. "We all help each other out around here. If you look like you're going on a picnic maybe the guards will pay less attention to you."

He took it with a muttered "Thanks" and looked inside. In addition to various kinds of food there were medical supplies tucked in underneath. "Thanks," he repeated, this time with a bit of warmth.

She nodded and stepped back to the kitchen area, calling out, "Jelna! Timeath! Lunch is ready!"

Squall thrust the basket at Seifer after removing a handful of cookies and a napkin to hold them in. "Here. You look the strongest so you get to carry it," he said, ignoring the expression on the blond's face. "Lead on."

As they were walking to the escape point he muttered, "Dragged out of bed at dawn, no breakfast, bunch of imbeciles waiting here. . . ." He bit down savagely on a cookie.

Seifer snorted in amusement and stole one, biting into it with relish. "So," he said conversationally, "I know this great place we can have our picnic." He nodded absently to a soldier they were passing and added, "Nice shade trees, almost no monsters, so the girls shouldn't have a problem with it. Should be perfect."

Squall was a bit unwillingly impressed by how casually Seifer was going about things. "Sounds good," he replied, finishing off his cookie and preparing to eat another.

Seifer continued to ramble on innocently enough, eventually turning down a narrow alley out of sight of any soldiers. In no time at all they were over the wall and slipping away from Timber. No one seemed to notice, no soldiers shouted after them, and Seifer grinned as he continued to lead them. In point of fact, he led them to a spot which seemed to match his earlier description. The basket was placed on the ground and a cloth fetched out, food and drink removed, and napkins as well. Soon enough they were all enjoying a meal. Selphie made it a point to sit by Rinoa, Nida sat by himself, and Seifer chose the spot next to Squall.

Once the gaping hole in his stomach had been filled Squall sighed slightly. "Code says we head for the nearest Garden."

Seifer nodded. "It's a longish walk, but nothing too bad if I remember right. I visited Galbadia Garden once, but I took the train."

And Dollet was farther on to the north, not that it particularly mattered, though there were some decent Triple Triad players there. He took a sip of water and pinned Seifer with an intent look. "So you assassinated Deling."

"I intended to hold him hostage, actually, but he moved right into my blade. You can't trust a man who trusts a sorceress as an ambassador."

"Seifer," he said with a sigh.

"What?"

"It's a good thing you wore a mask and cut the cables, else Garden might be in a world of trouble. Also, if the sorceress had come in she could have messed with your mind. We both learned about Adel in class. You know what they can do."

"I had a dream before," Seifer mumbled. "I kept wanting to be a sorceress's knight. They always made it seem so romantic in those movies."

"And then you learned differently?"

Seifer shrugged. "They can't all be bad. Still, I did a lot of additional research. There's a theory about how when a sorceress passes on her powers before death that sometimes some of their personality goes with it. They theorized that it might be what causes some of them to go mad. But, it's just as likely that some people just can't handle power. I'd just as soon not trust any of them unless I know they're sane." He shifted and shook his head. "I have no idea why I'm telling you this."

"I'm a good listener," he deadpanned.

Seifer laughed at that and grabbed another piece of fried chicken. "Maybe it's because you've showed me lately that you do actually have a personality, and a sense of humor."

Squall smirked at him. "Don't tell anyone. My reputation would be in ruins. In return I won't tell anyone about your dream."

"Deal," Seifer said.

. . .

It was dusk when they came upon a small train station. Seifer tapped his arm and pointed. "Through those woods is Galbadia Garden. We should probably camp on this side of them."

"Agreed." It did not take long to reach treeline and the SeeDs quickly began bending a roughly circular stand of saplings inward. Ropes were produced and used to tie them at the center and long grasses were pulled up to be woven between the slender trunks, fashioning a temporary shelter.

"Wow, you guys really know what you're doing," Rinoa said.

Squall turned away and rolled his eyes heavenward, then stepped a bit deeper into the trees, finding some deadwood he could hack apart. When he returned Nida had already removed a large circle of turf and set it aside, exposing bare earth. Selphie took the wood from Squall and began setting up a fire while Seifer was investigating the basket to see how much food remained. They were soon enough about to eat dinner when Squall heard that high-pitched whine again and grabbed his head. He was dragged into another dream featuring Laguna, Kiros, and Ward, and spent the time mentally cursing. He found it a bit odd that of the men involved, Laguna seemed to almost hear his thoughts.

On waking up he swore under his breath and sat up, noticing that this time Seifer had also been affected. Selphie sat up quickly, swayed for a moment, then said, "Sir Laguna's in _big_ trouble! I hope he's okay. . . ."

"What the hell was that?" Seifer muttered.

"It's happened once already—the train to Timber," Squall told him quietly. "If it'd just been me or just Selphie I might have shrugged it off. As it stands, whatever it is could be dangerous. We can't afford to be incapacitated like that. We're just lucky so far that we haven't been in the middle of something and ended up dead because of it."

Seifer cursed and shook his head.

Nida cleared his throat to get their attention. "It was the same as before. You just . . . collapsed. Seemed like you were having some kind of dream."

Rinoa pushed the basket closer and gazed at him and Seifer with huge dark eyes. "I was really scared, but Nida said it should be okay."

'Like I care,' he thought, his mouth twitching when he saw Seifer rolling his eyes. He fetched out a bottle of water and some food and settled in to appease his hunger. "We'll take turns on watch. Nida, you'll be last since you weren't forced into a 'nap'."

"I can take a watch," Rinoa volunteered, then shrank back when every set of eyes turned toward her.

"You're a client," Squall said, "not a SeeD."

"You're really mean, you know that?" she retorted with a glare, then spoiled it by yawning expansively.

Seifer snorted quietly.

"No, I'm tactless and blunt. There's a difference." Squall returned his attention to something more important: his food.

"I'll take first watch," Seifer said.

He nodded. "I'll go next." Then he raised his voice. "Selphie, you'll take watch after me."

When they were done eating Rinoa ducked into the shelter with a huff, followed by Selphie and Nida. Squall moved to lie down in front of the shelter's opening while Seifer got up so he could pace around quietly, back always to the fire so his eyesight could remain adjusted to the darkness. Squall closed his eyes after watching Seifer for a few minutes, wondering just how much more there might be to the blond. He had not expected his unorthodox method of getting the upper hand during a spar and test to have such far-reaching effects. It surprised and amused him to find out that Seifer had a sense of humor and could tease someone without being actively malicious. It did not hurt that the blond seemed to share his dislike of Quistis and Rinoa. Would the camaraderie last? Did it matter? He drifted off to sleep wondering about many things.

. . .

The next morning they had already finished a meager breakfast and taken care of business by the time Rinoa woke up. The dark-haired girl flushed in embarrassment when Selphie escorted her out of sight, and again when Rinoa realized she was the one holding up their journey. She grabbed a few things in a napkin and stood up, nodding to show she was ready.

The forest was fairly quiet, though they were beset by numerous monsters along the way. Rinoa was always shoved into the center of their circle when they had to fight and she seemed faintly ashamed at her lack of ability. Angelo was of more use than she was, which was not saying much.

No one at Galbadia Garden seemed to pay the least bit of attention to them, so they freely walked in. Squall's attention was more on the students wearing some kind of device which allowed them to fly. He had to wonder just how useful they really were. Farther in they moved through the turnstiles and paused, eyeing the interior; the layout was nothing like that of Balamb Garden.

"Interesting," Seifer murmured.

"I understand they don't use GFs," he replied as he looked around, then arched a brow at two familiar looking people headed toward them. "What are they doing here?"

Selphie spotted them and began waving. "Hi, Quistis! Hi, Zell!" she called as they got closer.

Quistis came to a stop a foot away, a puzzled look on her face. "We heard of an assassination in Timber. Is that why you're all here? And, Seifer? I thought you were—"

"Cid let me take a break since there weren't any missions I could go on right away. Decided to head to Timber because I've spent several breaks there. I was more than a little surprised to run into Squall and the others," Seifer said with somehow perfect sincerity.

'Interesting that she didn't automatically accuse our client of ordering Deling's death.' And speaking of—"Quistis," he said by way of greeting. "Our client, Rinoa, requested we get her out of town once we got word of the assassination."

Quistis nodded, still looking a bit puzzled. "Well, Zell and I are here to deliver some orders. We're staying overnight in a guest suite on the first floor. There's room for everyone. Why don't you follow me so I can show you, then you can wander around and check the place out." After getting a nod from Squall she turned and led them across the center of the main section of the ground floor, up a set of stairs, and down a corridor, pausing at a door marked GS01. Inside she pointed out the various rooms. "There are only three rooms, so. . . . The girls in one room and split the other two, I guess." She glanced at a clock on the wall and added, "I have to go. My appointment with the headmaster is in a few minutes. Zell, why don't you show them where the cafeteria is at least."

"Sure thing!" Zell said enthusiastically.

Twenty minutes later they were seated at one of the larger tables with trays of food, though Zell looked downcast over the lack of hot dogs. "So wow, didn't expect to run into you guys. You gonna hang out for a few days and then go back to Timber?"

Squall shrugged. "That depends on our client."

"You do anything exciting while you were there?" Zell asked, then shoved at least ten french fries into his mouth at once.

"Unfortunately, no."

"I thought it was exciting," Rinoa muttered.

"That's easy for someone with no experience to say," Seifer told her.

"Not you, too!" she complained. "I thought we were—friends!"

Seifer declined to respond, instead taking a long pull on his drink.

"So, uh," Zell said uncomfortably. "You're Rinoa, huh? I'm Zell. Nice to meet you!"

"Yeah. It's nice to meet you, too." She aimed a pouty glare at Seifer and asked Zell, "Have you ever been here before?"

"Well. . . ."

"I think after I'm done I'm just going to go back to the suite and relax," Seifer murmured, his head tilted toward Squall.

Squall nodded. It sounded like an excellent idea to him. And maybe Zell would take up Rinoa's attention for the rest of the day. He hurried through his meal, coincidentally finishing up at the same time as Seifer, and got up to drop off the tray.

Seifer walked beside him on the way back and once inside the suite investigated what was behind each door. "Bathroom's the one on the right," he tossed over his shoulder. "Trepe already has her things in the room next to it, Dincht has stuff in the middle room. Want to share the last one?"

"Sure. I'd be inclined to commit violence if I had to share with Zell." He walked over to the final room and stepped inside, then laid his gunblade on a table, also removing his jacket. The pillow of his chosen bed was shoved against the side wall and he sat down using it as a backrest.

Seifer followed him in and closed the door, then stretched out after setting his blade aside. "So, what suddenly made you start acting so different?"

Squall tilted his head back to rest against the wall and snorted. "I wanted to win our spar and I knew I was losing that time, so I tried something unorthodox. It worked."

"Uh huh. Then explain the SeeD test."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you've failed that test multiple times already. You wouldn't keep taking it if you didn't want to pass, so I thought I'd distract you from what I thought would get you failed again. You were the squad leader so I'd have gone if you'd ordered it. I just didn't think it was wise to go."

"By flirting with me?"

"It worked, didn't it?"

Seifer chuckled lowly, a strangely honest and attractive sound to Squall's ears. "I never thought I'd say this to you, but thanks."

"You're my sparring partner," he replied.

Seifer rolled onto his side and propped his head up with one hand. "Rinoa give you much grief?"

"She's a moron. I'd really like to give Cid a piece of my mind right now. That contract is insane. That group she's in can barely function and none of them can even fight."

"I've met them before. Last summer when I was visiting Timber. Rinoa latched on to me and wouldn't let go. She's like a leech. I got to hear all about the resistance groups there, hers in particular. And if that wasn't enough she dragged me around shopping. I managed to get her to show me the contract that night. I had no idea anyone would be sent so soon, and certainly not brand new SeeDs. I don't envy you one bit."

Squall shrugged. "I have my limits when it comes to abject stupidity. If I hit the threshold. . . ."

"Well I don't think you can get away with murdering the client, but I can see why you'd want to. Watts is a suck up, Zone is too scared to do anything personally, and Rinoa is a spoiled princess who ran away from home to go play freedom fighter in direct opposition to her Galbadian general daddy."

Squall nodded. "I overheard you in the training center speaking about her and the contract. I made her show me a copy because of that. If this is Cid's idea of getting our feet wet we'll have jungle rot before long."

Seifer chuckled again. "Just what the world needs more of. Zombie SeeDs."

"I wonder why they sent Quistis and Zell here just to deliver some orders. Couldn't they have just sent it by cable?"

"Oh, speaking of Trepe—she's no longer an instructor. I overheard her moping about it the night of the ball. One of the reasons cited was having no leadership ability. I can't say that I disagree."

Squall could detect more than a hint of malicious glee in Seifer's tone. "Maybe she'll stop being such an inconsistent, bossy know-it-all."

"Oh, so there isn't something going on between you two?" Seifer asked, eyes alight with interest.

He grimaced in revulsion. "Whatever it is it's one-sided." Then he smirked. "Why? Jealous?"

Seifer made a face. "She was forever getting on my case if you came back from a spar with so much as a scratch. It had me wondering just what was going on, but you're not the most approachable person to ask."

"Well, Sir Knight, maybe you can keep the lovesick, nagging harpies off my back while you're around," he teased. "I may be blunt and tactless, but you take it to a whole new level."

Seifer was obviously into the spirit of things as he raised his free hand to cover his heart and a mock-awed smile adorned his face. "You honor me with your trust!"

Squall unbent enough to laugh softly, but abruptly went stone-faced at the sound of people arriving in the common room outside. A knock came a few seconds later and the door opened.

'Because it's not like we might be changing or something,' he thought in disgust. 'Or maybe that was the idea.'

Quistis popped her head in long enough to say, "Will you two come out? I've got some news."


	3. Three

**Written**: 10 June 2011

**Notes**: I spent quite a while going over the basic road layout of Deling City and watching some of the videos of that part of the game. *shakes head sadly* I don't know what the hell the designers were thinking.

* * *

Squall exchanged a look with Seifer and got up, reflexively strapping his gunblade back into place, then exited. After a quick survey of the composition of seating he choose an unoccupied loveseat and was not surprised when Seifer joined him. "What news?" he asked Quistis.

"During my meeting with Headmaster Martine I delivered some orders from Balamb. Apparently it was documentation on a joint operation between Galbadia and Balamb Gardens and Martine has asked that we take care of it. We're scheduled to meet with him tomorrow morning out at the entrance, after we've eaten."

Squall frowned faintly. "All six of us?" he muttered. "You know any of the details?"

Quistis shook her head. "Only that it's in Deling City."

He spared a second to glance at Rinoa when she sucked in a sharp breath, then focused on Quistis again. "I assume you told him my team already has a client."

"Yes. He said it wouldn't matter. It's a one time thing. I did fib slightly, though," she said, looking a bit uncomfortable. "He wanted to know what you were doing here. I told him you had only just arrived in Timber when the assassination happened, so you left straight away with your client until the heat died down. I mean, if people realized that SeeDs were wandering around they might assume you had something to do with it, and that's bad for business."

"Makes sense." He didn't need to look to know that Rinoa was probably staring at Seifer; he could already see that Quistis was eyeing the blond speculatively. "Considering that we were in the planning stage of infiltrating the station it's just as well. Fine. Then we can do whatever we want until then." He nudged Seifer and stood up. "Spar?"

"Yeah. I know just the place," Seifer responded, also standing. "Come on."

They left without a backward glance after Seifer dropped his trench coat off in their room, and the blond led them to a training room not already in use. The blond readied his blade and smirked. "Let's skip the unorthodox methods this time, eh?"

Squall returned the smirk and attacked. "You realize that Rinoa might talk," he said after his blade clashed with Seifer's.

"I doubt it," the blond said confidently, a forming spell causing his free hand to glow. "She probably thinks I showed up to help _her_." He pushed with his blade and jumped back, throwing fire at Squall a second later.

He rolled to one side and came up on guard, then blocked a swing aimed at his face, sliding his blade down the edge of Seifer's to then attempt a vertical slice and pierce move which was deflected just in time. "So she's moronic _and_ delusional."

"Yeah." Seifer grinned and pushed the offensive, obviously not in the mood to talk anymore just then.

A half hour later they were both feeling the pleasant burn of exercise and the spar was brought to a graceful tie.

"Let's hope the girls haven't commandeered the bathroom," Seifer said as they made the walk back to the suite, running a hand through his damp hair and plucking at the front of his sweat-soaked shirt. "At least it's designed to handle two people at a time."

Squall nodded and pushed open the door to their suite, stopping in their room long enough to drop off his blade, gloves, and boots, and get a fresh set of clothing—never mind that it was stylistically exactly the same as what he already wore. As he headed for the bathroom he noticed that Quistis was busy off at a desk in one corner while the others were talking quietly or watching cable. He didn't think twice about stripping down in front of Seifer, and hung his discards over the edge of the stall so he could rinse them out after he showered. Seifer took the other stall and did much the same, though Squall did find out that the blond had a tendency to hum while bathing.

He wrung out his rinsed clothing with as much strength as he could manage before setting them aside so he could dry himself off enough to dress in fresh clothing, tossing the used towel into a hamper by the door. 'I suppose if someone stays here for any length of time they provide laundry service,' he mused on his way back to the bedroom. There he hung the damp clothing up so it could dry and took a seat on his chosen bed again.

Seifer closed the door after entering and did much the same before saying, "I wonder what they've got planned. Seems awfully strange that so many would be needed. And I notice Trepe didn't say one way or the other if I'd be involved."

"I assume she implied—or at least didn't say otherwise—that you were a part of my team. Since Martine already knows about our client I'll just shove her off to one side while we're briefed. So her father is in Deling?"

Seifer nodded. "She won't want to be there, but she's just going to have to deal. The Timber assignment is long term so it's not like you have to be back there immediately and it's possible the one in Deling is connected. I expect she'll hide in a hotel room the whole time hoping to avoid her daddy."

"Good," he said. "One less thing to worry about." He strapped his watch back on and checked the time. 'Hn. What to do to pass the time?' He reached over and grabbed his gunblade, then hunted his tools out of his jacket. A minute later he was lovingly maintaining his weapon. "You ever been to Deling?"

"Hm? Yeah, once. It's big. Large enough to have bus service running all over the place. Tons of shops, restaurants, bars. Huge hotel, but there are smaller places, too, which is good since not everyone can afford the hotel. At least we get paid more than a small stipend now. I never did agree with the idea that we have to spend our own money for expenses and don't get reimbursed."

Squall shrugged. "I guess they think we supplement our income by selling stuff from monsters whenever we stop by a town. I expect it takes a lot of money to run a Garden, so there's not as much left for the SeeD salaries. In that first vision—on the train—I saw a small part of Deling. Mostly the hotel you mentioned. Laguna was all wibbly over some lady. Made a complete fool of himself."

"He does seem a bit . . eh. The other two didn't seem so bad, though."

Squall shrugged again. "I want to know why it's happening. Imagine if we were in the middle of battle."

"Maller got left out?"

He nodded. "Left out both times. Rinoa the second time." He looked up, brow furrowed. "I wonder what the common ground is. I don't recall offhand ever seeing Selphie until recently—she transferred in from Trabia. You've always been around, but I can't really remember much about back then except the occasional piece of memory. A beach pops to mind, but I don't actually remember going to the coast until they brought us all there to make sure we could swim." Seifer gave him an extremely peculiar look in Squall's opinion. "What?"

Seifer raised his brows, then reached for his own gunblade and cleaning supplies. "We've always been together, Squall, for as long as I can remember. We were together in an orphanage before being brought to Garden. We had a couple of buildings, a huge field, and a path down to the beach with a lighthouse in the distance."

He frowned, trying to remember. "Was it just us? Did I hate it so much there that I blocked it out?"

Seifer's gaze went distant, his hands automatically moving in their task. "Now that you mention it I don't think it was just us. I'm pretty sure there were other kids, but. . . ." He shook his head. "Can't really remember clearly who. But maybe that's the connection. And if so, perhaps Tilmitt was there, too."

. . .

The next morning they convened just beyond the main gate and waited. A car soon appeared and Rinoa straightened up. "Just pretend I'm a SeeD, too, okay? It'll be less complicated that way."

"No," Squall said flatly. "The headmaster already knows you're not. Just wait there until we're done with the briefing."

Rinoa pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, settling into a slouchy sulk. "Fine."

He pinched the bridge of his nose in disgust and moved far enough away that she should not be able to overhear, the rest of his fellow SeeDs moving with him.

When the car pulled to a stop a man got out—who he assumed must be Martine—and approached them, his eyes drifting past each of them, then sliding over to notice Rinoa a fair distance off. He nodded in seeming satisfaction when they saluted and said, "Good morning. At ease. I have official orders from Headmaster Cid addressed to you. Following regulations, I have gone over these orders, and after careful consideration of our options, we have decided to fully assist and cooperate. Actually, we, too, have been planning a mission of this nature for some time now. In order to stress the importance of this mission, I must first brief you on the current situation.

"You all know about the sorceress being appointed as the peace ambassador for the Galbadian government, the death of Deling notwithstanding. However, this ambassador thing is just a cover up. There will be no peace talks, only threats. The sorceress creates fear among people. Therefore, peace talks are impossible. Galbadia is planning to use fear to negotiate favorable conditions for itself. It is clear that Galbadia's ultimate goal is world domination. Our intelligence tells us that the cabinet and military of Deling's regime was fully supportive of this, so it's expected that whoever takes over as president will be of the same mind.

"Garden is no exception, either. We are aware that the sorceress is planning to use this Garden as her base. We have . . . very few options available to us. We entrust world peace and the future to you. Details of the mission are enclosed in these official orders." Martine handed over a set of papers to Squall. "Any questions?"

He read through the paperwork as quickly as possible, doubling back at one section to clarify a point, then looked up and said, "These orders say by means of a sniper. We have no one with that skill. Is one to be provided us?"

Martine nodded. "Kinneas!"

A rustle not far away had Squall turning his head in time to see a tall young man with honey-coloured hair push up from a grassy knoll. He wore a long coat, a cowboy hat—probably to keep the sun out of his eyes, but maybe just to go with his coat and chaps—and carried a rifle. Kinneas sauntered over lazily and drifted to a stop nearby.

"This is Irvine Kinneas. He will be your sharpshooter," Martine informed them. "Leave whenever you're ready. Failure is not an option." He returned to his vehicle and drove out of sight, causing Squall to shake his head over the sheer laziness of it.

"Howdy, folks," Irvine drawled.

Squall eyed him for a moment, feeling a strange sense of familiarity, then looked away when Quistis stepped right in front of him and demanded to know about the mission details. He shook his head, spying Rinoa approaching. "Not here. We'll discuss it on the way."

Quistis frowned at him and he could see that she was barely holding herself back from trying to take control, but she eventually backed down and nodded. "There's a station not far from here. We can talk in the SeeD car on the train? That should be private enough."

Rinoa huffed in the background.

Squall took care of introductions and then they were off. The station was indeed not far away, and quite a few students were scattered around, some returning from visits home judging from snippets of overheard conversation, and others off to find some entertainment. Once they'd embarked the next available train he turned to Rinoa. "You have a choice. Either you wait outside the SeeD cabin until we're done, or we can keep you under a sleep spell so there's no chance of you hearing anything."

She looked outraged at both suggestions and flounced off to stare out a window.

Squall shrugged and used his ticket to gain access to the corridor, then swiped his ID through the scanner for the SeeD compartment. Inside was just as well appointed as the last one and they arrayed themselves on the available seating. "We have a direct order from both Balamb and Galbadia Gardens to assassinate the sorceress. Kinneas will snipe her from afar and we're to support him to our fullest. Should Kinneas fail we're to attack head on. General Caraway will be our contact there and give us the full details of the operation."

Seifer laughed, startling everyone but Squall. "We won't have to worry about Rinoa, then," he said gleefully. "She'll stay as far away as possible from her daddy. Probably afraid he'll lock her in her room and try to talk some sense into her."

Squall shot his partner an amused look and nodded, then noticed Quistis was giving them a disapproving look. 'She really needs to get that stick out of her ass.' "Now, something important. Twice now Selphie and I have been dragged into some kind of vision. Once on the train to Timber, and again on the edge of the forest near Galbadia Garden. Seifer got dragged in that time, as well. Nida was unaffected. Quistis, Zell, you need to be alert in case it happens again, and either guard us or get us to a safe place, whichever is relevant. Someone or something is interfering with us and we have no details yet as to how it's being accomplished."

Quistis nodded, her expression going thoughtful. "Maybe," she said slowly, "I should take over as leader for this mission just in case."

Squall arched a brow at her. "I sent a cable to Headmaster Cid about it yesterday afternoon and got a reply. He said not to worry for now. He also left me in charge of my team. _If_ I, Selphie, and Seifer become incapacitated again, _then_ you're temporarily in charge as most senior SeeD, with Nida as your second."

"Understood," she replied stiffly, obviously annoyed with him, and probably with Cid.

"Anything else we should go over before we open the compartment to Rinoa?" He paused. "No? All right."

Selphie got up and exited, presumably to go tell Rinoa, but did not return. Quistis left with her, presumably in a snit, and Zell and Nida struck up an alternately loud and quiet conversation, leaving Squall again in the company of Seifer. Irvine shifted seats so he could sit near them and tipped his hat in silent greeting.

"Either you're not a SeeD," Squall commented, "or one who took the test and returned to Galbadia Garden. I don't care which, I'd just like to know."

"That's right, I'm not," Irvine drawled. "Not sure I want to take the test. But the education we get is first rate and costs nothing."

"True," Seifer said. "You look familiar."

Irvine tilted his head to one side, a slow smile blossoming. "I expect that's because I am. We just didn't go to the same place, obviously."

Squall leaned forward in interest. "You were at the orphanage?" he asked quietly.

"Yep. We all were except that Nida fellow. Never laid eyes on him before, or that client of yours."

"Huh," Seifer said. "Maybe that's why Trepe is such a pain in the ass. She remembers on some level."

Irvine chuckled and pushed his hat back a bit. "She always was a bossy thing. The only person who isn't here is Sis. She went away one day and never came back. Maybe she was adopted. I know Quistis and Zell were."

Squall sat back, his mouth gaping slightly. "Sis. . . ." He swallowed heavily. "I remember now," he whispered.

Seifer dropped a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. "Hey. What is it?"

"Just that I know why I forgot, that's all. I'll tell you some other time, maybe."

"Okay," Seifer said slowly, removing his hand. "What do you want to bet that if it happens again, Irvine, Trepe, or Dincht could be pulled in?"

Squall considered. It was the only common ground so far, not that it made much sense as a piece of the mystery's puzzle. "Perhaps." He looked at Irvine again. "Do you have any Guardian Forces junctioned?"

Irvine shook his head. "We don't use them, but we're taught about them."

"Personally, I think summoning them is a complete waste of time," Squall said disdainfully, "but they are extremely handy otherwise. The protection alone from negative effects is worth it, not to mention a few other things. Do you want copies?"

"Uh, sure," Irvine said after a moment. "In Galbadia they teach us that GFs corrupt your memories, though."

Squall snorted and shook his head, concentrating to produce several small spheres in his hand. "Hysteria in my opinion. Just a way to frighten students and make them rely more on technology, technology which can fail in battle at the worst possible time. I expect it has something to do with how your Garden has such a close relationship with Galbadia and its military. Here," he said, handing them over, then produced an extra of Diablos to hand to Seifer.

"Thanks," Seifer said, then produced a few of his own to share around.

'Huh, I wonder where he got these from,' Squall thought after he assimilated the unfamiliar spheres and obtained Siren, Pandemona, and Leviathan. 'I guess we got assigned GFs in groups or something.' "You'll just have to start drawing magic as soon as you can," he said absently.

. . .

They arrived in Deling City at a grand station and rode the escalator up, walking out into the city itself to see the area featured in the vision Squall had been forced into. "Let's go get rooms and something to eat, then we can see Caraway."

As he expected Rinoa grimaced, but it was Irvine who nodded and said, "Follow me. Students from my Garden visit here a lot, so I know my way around." He led them to one of the smaller places in the city and they soon all had rooms. After that Irvine led them to a nearby café for an early lunch.

Desultory talk fit in between eating and soon enough Rinoa stood up. "I'm going back to my room. You've made it clear this is none of my business."

Squall just nodded and turned back to his meal, the corner of his mouth twitching when he heard her huff in indignation. Shortly thereafter Irvine directed them onto a bus which would take them to Caraway, and when they disembarked led them over to a gated walkway leading to a mansion. Outside the gate stood a guard of some kind, who said, "This is General Caraway's mansion. I can't let just anyone walk in. What business do you have?"

"I believe he's been informed of our arrival," Squall replied quietly. "We're here at the behest of Garden for a briefing."

"Well, yes," the guard said slowly, "but I was ordered not to let you through until your skills have been tested."

Zell waved his hands around wildly. "What the hell's he talkin' about! We came all the way out here for some stupid test? Who does he think we are!"

Squall arched a brow as Seifer snorted. "And _why_ is this necessary?" he directed to the guard.

The guard took a half step back. "There are many students like yourself who wish to call on General Caraway. Just two days ago there were some students from Galbadia Garden, but they have yet to return from the test."

Squall stepped forward and stared. "You have just admitted he's expecting my team specifically," he said coldly. "We are not some random students who hope for words of wisdom from a decorated military figure. Are you sure this isn't simply your way of exercising what meager power you have over others, as a way to feel important? Do you—I don't know—make a little money on the side selling hints about this 'test' to supplement your income? I really wonder how the general would react if informed of your actions."

The guard went pale and stepped back again, mouth opening and closing soundlessly. He shoved a hand in his pocket and brought out a small package, thrust it at Squall, and once it had been taken scampered over to the gate and opened it for them.

Squall strode through, tucking the package away in a pocket, only smirking once he was on the other side and the guard could not see his face. "Must have hit a nerve," he murmured when Seifer appeared in his peripheral vision.

Seifer chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nicely done. I'm impressed. I'd have just gotten in his face and swung Hyperion around."

Squall glanced over and smiled. "Sometimes words have a keener edge than steel. It's all in how you use them." Up ahead was the entrance, with no one guarding it, and no one responding to his knock. With a shrug he opened the door and headed inside, seeing several doors, hallways, and staircases off the entrance hall.

Irvine stepped up beside him and pointed to a door to their right, saying, "That's where he usually meets people. I expect the guard outside let him know we were coming."

They took seats and settled in to wait, and Squall idly examined the room. It positively reeked of wealth and was probably intended to intimidate those received there. Caraway finally showed up a good half hour later. 'Another technique, one that I'm not fazed by,' he thought as he stood up to greet the man and introduce his team.

Caraway nodded vaguely and said, "Let me explain the plan, then." He walked over to his desk and behind it, then pulled out a thin drawer. Inside was a large sheet of paper which he placed atop the desk. "Gather 'round. Good. This is a map of the city. I have smaller versions for you as well, after the briefing. Now, I'm sure you're already aware that the Galbadian government has reached an agreement with Sorceress Edea. This is still the case despite the death of Vinzer Deling. Tomorrow evening there will be a ceremony to commemorate the event.

"This is where you would have arrived, at the station," he said, tapping a spot on the map, then sliding his finger northward. "Here is the gateway arch, and beyond that is the presidential residence, where the ceremony will begin. This mission has been designed in mind for two teams, one to be stationed at the gateway and the sniper team to stand ready to enter the presidential residence so as to be in position at a specific time. Once the ceremony is over a parade for the sorceress will begin—that's when the gate will open. Until then lay low, as the parade may be canceled if there's any commotion, and we must avoid that at all cost.

"The parade itself will draw the attention of the guards and the crowd, so getting inside at that point should be easy enough to manage. The sniper team will head for the roof of the residence, to a balcony where the ceremony will have taken place. From there they can proceed inside and locate the access hatch for the clock tower. This team should have more than enough time to get in place while the parade is going on. The sniper rifle will be up there, ready for use. The sniper team will then be on standby until exactly 20.00.

"The parade itself starts at the residence and the sorceress will be riding on the parade vehicle. After it clears the gates it will turn left and take a route which circles the city along the outer road and return over here." Caraway tapped the road on the opposite side. "It will then turn right and head toward the gateway arch. This is where the gateway team comes into play. At exactly 20.00 the parade will pass under the gateway. The gateway team will operate the console in the maintenance room to drop the gates, trapping the sorceress inside.

"Also at 20.00 the carousel clock will rise from the roof of the presidential residence giving the sniper a clear shot at the sorceress. Take the shot, leave the rifle, and get out without being seen. If for any reason it is not possible to take the shot or the shot misses, the sniper team will get to the gateway as quickly as possible and carry out a direct assault." Caraway opened another drawer and pulled out a handful of smaller maps, passing them to Squall. "For now you're free to check out the city, and if necessary, return here if there are any questions about the plan. Just stay out of trouble and try not to draw too much attention to yourselves in the meantime. Report back here at 17.00 tomorrow for the final meeting, after which we'll proceed with the operation."

Squall blinked slowly, gave the general a sharp nod, and quit the room, not saying a word until they were back outside and beyond the gate. "Irvine, lead us out of the city for the moment."

"No problem," Irvine drawled and headed off down the street.

They were soon enough a short distance from Deling and Squall handed out the maps, keeping an eye on the surrounding territory. "First thing. Irvine, with me. Seifer, with Selphie. I want you two to concentrate most on what you can find out about the presidential residence. Quistis, with Zell and Nida. You three concentrate most on the gateway arch. We're going to play tourists and go over this city." He glanced at his watch. "Look for anything that can potentially be a problem, especially since it'll be even darker when the operation is due to start. I'm giving you three hours, then meet up at the car rental station we passed. Any questions? Quistis, you three head back in first. Irvine, show us a different place where Seifer and Selphie can go back in, then we'll choose another."

Twenty minutes later he and Irvine were roaming around, pausing at various small shops and even buying a few trinkets, but their eyes were intent on the actual places of importance. They did cross paths with the others several times, but his instructions to Irvine specifically were to look for alternate sniper locations and keep quiet about it at their meeting until he gave the word. Squall's first reaction to the plan had been full-blown disbelief, but was waiting on the results of their scouting to be shared before voicing his concerns. They eventually ended up at the rental place, where Squall hired a car, and the others trickled in to join them. He drove at least a half dozen miles south from the city before he stopped and got out, then spread his map on the hood of the car. "All right. Impressions?"

"There's a barely visible door on the interior wall of the arch leading to a maintenance room," Quistis said, tapping a spot on the map. "The ground floor has an access hatch leading down into the sewers and the console is on the first floor. Slit windows up there give a view of the presidential residence, most of the road, and the area directly under the archway. I think it's going to be a bit tricky getting inside since I doubt anyone will be there to hide us from view, but it can be managed if the team goes early enough."

Squall nodded. "Did you spend any time down in the sewers?"

"We did check it out partially. It counts as an escape route. Unfortunately, it's a maze down there and it would have taken too much time to properly map it. We'd have been late meeting up."

He glanced at Seifer and Selphie.

"The presidential residence almost looks like it was designed with thieves in mind," Selphie said with a laugh.

Seifer nodded. "There are a number of places we were able to spot where someone could climb up, and with all eyes on the parade I expect it won't be difficult. We also spotted what looked like a manhole off to the side in the courtyard. Tilmitt bought a camera and took pictures of me posing at the gates as part of our cover, but I'm not sure how much she managed to capture, and we don't exactly have a way to easily view them right now. Also, the gates look like they open outward—which makes sense." He paused and glanced at Selphie, who nodded, then said, "There's a potential problem, though."

"Oh?"

"We spotted the parade vehicle. The chair on it for the sorceress has a metal scroll-work back which could interfere with the shot. And from what we could see it's covered in a black curtain of fabric. If you take into account what Caraway said Irvine will be shooting at the back, not the front, so he won't have a clear view of anything, even with a scope. The gate itself has bars wide enough apart to not be an issue, though. Next is that the team has no quick escape route visible. They might not be able to tell where the shot came from, and you can probably get down faster than up, but it looks like the sewer is the only quick way out, if indeed that is a sewer access and not some kind of underground storage tank. I have to assume that the gates will be closed once the vehicle is far enough out and it won't be an easy exit."

Squall sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then nodded at Irvine.

"I found plenty of alternate locations with quick enough escape routes. The problem is the sniper rifle. I don't see any way to get to it before the appointed time and it's not like I'm hiding one under my chaps. Exeter isn't meant for that kind of thing. I also have a problem with where Caraway indicated the sniper team should wait. We'd have to pass by dozens of people to get to the gate. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to be tucked in right up here"—he tapped a spot on the map—"so we'd be at the extreme north edge of the crowd and only have to run a short distance."

"All right. Any other comments? Something you want to get off your chests about this?" He gazed at each of them in turn, and while some of them looked indecisive or doubtful none of them spoke. "This is bullshit," Squall muttered, then said at a normal volume, "I need to think about this for a bit."


	4. Four

**Written:** 10-11 June 2011

**Notes**: Squall is really kind of a bastard in this chapter. Flat out assuming that everyone has a portable void on hand to handle the pesky details of storing everything but the kitchen sink without having a train of pack mules. It's, uh... magic, yeah. Magitech! Smuggled out of Esthar by ninjas! ...Don't question me! :P

**Trivia**: Other titles considered were Rift and Flaws, but the acronym won out in the end. Though, the title probably should read SN:AFU.

* * *

Squall wandered a short distance away and sat on the ground going over everything they knew so far. He could only come up with only one conclusion. He checked his conclusion time and time again before snarling and returning to the others with a grim expression. "All right. This is a trap."

"Well of course it is," Zell exclaimed. "We trap her and shoot her!"

Squall shook his head. "You don't get it. It's a trap for _us_."

"What?" Quistis said. "Where are you getting that from?"

He looked around, noting that Seifer, Irvine, and Selphie were all nodding at him, sour looks on their faces. Nida seemed to be surprisingly unconcerned.

"The gateway team will be trapped with the sorceress if something goes wrong. With only two ways out she'll know exactly where you went—unless whoever is there can squeeze through the windows and don't mind a storey drop—and she _will_ know someone is there because someone had to have dropped the gates. Huge neon sign of bad planning, point one. By the time the sniper team could get anywhere near there to help it'd be too late. The sniper team has to get out of the clock tower, out of the residence, beyond the gates, and then run that huge distance, all to supposedly engage the sorceress, unless of course that is a sewer access, in which case they'd have to thread the maze first. Bad plan point two.

"There'll already _be_ a team in place there to engage if necessary so there's no reason for this plan to rely on the sniper team for both. Bad plan point three. If by some _miracle_ the shot hits and kills the sorceress, you do realize she must pass on her powers? And who is going to be right there? One or more SeeDs. Bad plan point four. And if those powers pass to a SeeD, are we then supposed to kill that person? And the next that they jump to? And the next? Bad plan point five. Even if we have the best available sniping point this whole plan is _bullshit_. We're being set up to take the fall for something that won't work anyway, and once they figure out that SeeD was behind it, what do you think is going to happen to Garden? Bad plan point six! Don't even get me started on this exactly at 20.00 business."

"You're right," Seifer said. "And being a sorceress, it's not like we can waltz up and cast Sleep on her and expect it to work."

"I am a mercenary, not a mindless puppet to dance to the whims of people who may not be able to tie their own shoelaces without an assistant. The fact that a general of the Galbadian army is a part of this _brilliant_ plan just makes all of it worse. And I bet he won't be anywhere near the events in question so he can save his own skin. I am not going to take the fall on this one and end up dead or imprisoned, and I refuse to _order_ any of you to do it, either."

"This is an important mission," Zell shouted. "We have orders!"

"Squall, look," Quistis said. "I admit that this isn't a perfect plan, but Zell is right. We have orders. Maybe if we talk to Caraway something can be worked out."

"You think he's going to completely redesign the plan overnight?" he asked, shooting her a look of disbelief. "You have _got_ to be shitting me. No wonder they demoted you!"

Quistis hissed like a cat and took a step forward, her hand twitching at her side. "How dare you."

"It's easy," he retorted cruelly, "because now I can see with absolute clarity just why they said you have no leadership skills." The second her fingers curled around the handle of her whip he said, "Do you _really_ want to fight me?"

She blinked and stepped back, her cheeks turning a deep, mottled red.

"Uh, folks," Irvine interjected into the tense atmosphere. "There's something else that needs to be brought up."

"Yes?" Squall said, not taking his eyes off Quistis.

"Sorceress Edea. We—we all know her. She was our matron at the orphanage."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Zell yelled.

"Don't you remember? Or was getting adopted enough to make you forget about the rest of us?" Irvine replied. "All of us, except Nida, were at an orphanage together for several years. Zell and Quistis were adopted after a few years, but the rest of didn't leave until later. Edea is the woman who took care of all of us, the one we looked up to as a mother figure."

A gasp sounded off to the side and Squall could just see Selphie move into his peripheral vision and stand right next to Irvine and cling to his arm. "We were," she breathed. "Irvy!"

"That's right, darlin', that's what you used to call me."

Zell started looking at everyone, confusion writ on his face, until suddenly his eyes widened. "I don't believe it. But. . . ."

Nida, again, seemed completely unconcerned, which marked him as a follower in Squall's eyes. Or maybe he just didn't have the balls to speak out against authority.

Quistis suddenly relaxed and planted one hand on her hip. "Squall, I outrank you in the SeeD hierarchy."

He chuckled. "Insubordination is so ugly on you."

Her hand went toward her whip again, never quite touching it. "If I'd known what a bastard you really are I'd have never scored you so high on the exam!"

"Oh, come on, Trepe," Seifer drawled. "Everyone knows you've got wet panties for Squall. You'd have scored him high no matter what."

"And you!" she shrieked. "I still don't know how you managed to pass this time. You obviously cheated somehow because you're nothing but a failure!"

Seifer just laughed at her.

Irvine coughed and adjusted his hat. "I'm not even a SeeD. And you know what? I'm not doing this. Squall is right, this whole operation reeks. I quit, so you're gonna have to find yourself another sniper."

Selphie nodded and pulled Irvine away from the confrontation. She slipped into the driver's seat of the car as Irvine took shotgun.

A few seconds later Seifer said, "Same here."

Squall arched a brow at Quistis and smirked. "Looks like you're in charge now, Trepe, just like you wanted to be, because I also resign. You can consult with Caraway on all those _minor_ flaws. I'm sure he can get a message to Galbadia Garden in time for replacements to come help you." He turned his back on her, almost daring her to attack, and got into the back seat of the car with Seifer.

Selphie hit the gas when it was apparent that neither Nida nor Zell were going to move, and drove them back to the city at the top speed the vehicle could handle. She slowed down once within the city itself and pulled into a spot near their hotel, then handed a key over to Irvine. "I'll keep the car warm. You go drop off the key with Rinoa."

Squall and Seifer also handed over their keys, and Irvine was back in less than five minutes. Selphie smoothly pulled away from the curb the second Irvine's door was shut and drove out of town.

"Hang a left," Squall instructed, "and head along that peninsula. I had a few moments to investigate that package the guard shoved at me and there's a tomb at the end with a Guardian Force inside. It shouldn't take long and we can use that time to cool down a little."

"Sure thing," Selphie chirped, having seemingly regained her cheerfulness.

Squall suspected it was faked, but he wasn't about to call her on it right then. He sighed and slouched, startling slightly when Seifer arranged to wrap an arm around his shoulders.

"You, my dear partner, are fucking _amazing_. Oh, I have _so_ wanted to lay into Trepe like that! You're my new hero."

Squall began laughing almost helplessly, leaning against Seifer's side until Selphie brought the car to a stop. "Let's blow off a little steam."

They were in and out in twenty minutes and half of that time was spent fighting the Guardian Force duo in question: Brothers. Back outside Squall gazed off into the distance before saying, "You know, when we were discussing that _brilliant_ plan, I noticed something off in the distance. It kind of looked like a missile base."

"It is one," Irvine confirmed.

"Should we leave this continent with a bang?" he asked.

Selphie squealed. "If Galbadia plans to subjugate everyone else they'll probably need that base. It just so happens I have a few tricks up my nonexistent sleeves that might help us blow the place to smithereens!"

"I'm game," Seifer said, "but where do you intend to go after? We can't go back to Balamb, and I don't think it'd be wise to go to Trabia, either."

Selphie pouted at the mention of her former Garden, but quickly smiled again, bouncing in place excitedly.

"I was thinking we'd head to Fisherman's Horizon and see if we can figure out how to get to Esthar. That bridge is still there," he said. "The people at FH came from Esthar, but there's no way the entire population packed up and moved. And Esthar was where Adel reigned before she disappeared. I'm willing to go there to see if they've got something we could use against Edea that isn't fatal. You're right, going to any of the Gardens is a bad idea. If we're being set up we'd probably end up right back in Galbadia's hands. Irvine, what do you think?"

"I'm all right with it. Those missiles are just asking to be taken out. Not sure how we're gonna get in there, though."

Squall shrugged and headed for the car. "What kind of tricks can you pull off, Selphie?"

"Well, I picked up a number of things while we were scouting, just in the off chance they'd come in handy. I can put together a fairly strong sleeping gas, more than a few types of explosives, and one hell of a dense fog. Stuff like that."

"So we'll get as close as we can, check the place out, and see if it's worth trying."

They arrived at a crossroads near the base a short time later—how could they not with Selphie driving at top speed again—and realized almost immediately that approaching the place without being seen would be impossible unless it was full dark, which it was not. Selphie dropped her binoculars and said, "I vaguely recall that sometimes fog banks roll in from the west around this area. So, if we approach from that direction slowly enough and toss the fog canisters ahead of us as far as we can, we might be able to fake being lost once we arrive. Long enough to put any guards outside to sleep, anyway. Then we should be able to steal any access cards or IDs or whatever we might need and head in. Toss in some more gas, wait for them to all conk out, and start setting the place to blow."

Squall considered for a few minutes and replied, "I don't suppose you're carrying gas masks, too?"

"Of course I am," she chirped. "I store all kinds of stuff! You never know when you might need some of it." Then she said in a confiding tone, "I'll have you know I maintain a subscription to _Anarchist Monthly_. Lots of great ideas and information in that."

He snorted and said, "Then it's possible we may be able to take our time and evacuate the place before blowing it."

"Yes, sir! I suppose if there's enough vehicles we could pack 'em in like sardines and drive them clear of the explosion, then take off in our own car. Maybe steal one of theirs since they're probably more durable. I don't know about you, but the thought of _walking_ that bridge makes me woozy."

"All right. But a slight change. If we do this now it might disrupt what's going on in Deling. I know that plan isn't going to work, but if we time this to coincide or do it just a bit before, we may not need the fog and they won't have time to contact Deling and distract the sorceress from her little ceremony and parade."

Selphie nodded and looked at Irvine and Seifer, who nodded back.

"Take us around at a distance and settle up on the west. We can camp there for the night and you can make what you need. If we can help with that at all, we'll do so. Tomorrow evening we'll begin the plan."

They had just gotten back in the car when Seifer swore loudly and leaned forward. "Tilmitt, how long would it take at top speed to get to Dollet?"

Selphie twisted in her seat and looked back in confusion. "What for?"

"How long would it take!"

She bit her lip and flipped her hair around for a minute, then said, "A few hours? Again, why?"

"I can't just blow up a missile base and flee to Esthar without sending a message to Raijin and Fujin. They'd kill me!"

Squall glanced at his watch and nodded. "Do it. We can eat dinner while we're there, stock up on anything we need, and set back out in the morning. We should have more than enough time to get in place and refine the plan. Trepe will probably think we're halfway to Balamb by now anyway to turn in our resignations."

Selphie nodded and turned back, started the car, and pushed the accelerator to the floor. "I can try to get a message to Trabia as well while we're there."

. . .

Quistis turned around, pulled the whip off her belt, and screamed! A moment later she was snapping her weapon around in a furious rage at an imaginary enemy. "Those bastards! How dare they do that!"

"We can handle it without them," Zell insisted.

She turned around to face him, her whip neatly coiling around her waist, and leveled a glare at him. "We—just lost—our sniper," she growled. "We also just lost one of our most intelligent and skilled SeeDs. I hope to hell that Galbadia Garden has qualified replacements. On top of that, _we have to walk back_!"

Zell skittered back a few steps quickly.

"How the _hell_ am I going to explain this?"

"We should probably get going," Nida said quietly.

Over two hours later they were at the entrance to Caraway's mansion and Quistis glared the guard into letting them through. If he had said one damn word she was prepared to show him just how painful a whip could be.

Caraway strolled into the study a good twenty minutes later looking vaguely annoyed, but greeted them pleasantly enough. "You have questions?"

Quistis heaved a sigh. "We've run into some . . . technical difficulties." As soon as she said it she could feel her face burn in anger and humiliation. "I don't even know where to begin so I'll just say it straight out. Four team members quit after we discussed the results of our scouting and the plan itself. They had some crazy idea that Garden was being set up to take the fall when the operation failed, as it must in their opinion because it was horribly flawed. As you can see, one of those people was the sniper."

Caraway lost him composure enough to gape at her before sitting down heavily in his chair. "Flawed?" he parroted.

She heaved another sigh and gave him a quick summary of the reported flaws and finished up saying, "And obviously, we'll need some replacements from Galbadia Garden."

Caraway leaned his chair back and gazed at the ceiling for a few minutes, then sat up. "Wait here while I send a message. We'll discuss some changes to the plan when I return."

As soon as he was out the door she muttered, "I hope one of them is no females on the gateway team, then." 'And what the hell am I going to do about Rinoa? Only one member of the original team is left, and he has about as much spine as a wet noodle.'

. . .

Selphie drove the car slowly toward the base as the three men hung out the windows and hurled fog canisters ahead of them with as much force as they could muster. They were in luck that, even though it was not yet dark, it was overcast and smelled of rain. Squall had worried over the time for quite a while and initiated a debate on the subject, concerned that the explosion might be visible from Deling City somehow, despite the distance, or at least the resulting smoke. After Selphie pointed out that she had prepared shape charges and could control to some extent how the explosion would take place they decided to proceed before dark so they had more time to get away. And also, the less time they spent driving in unfamiliar territory at night the better.

The gate guards were easy to take out and they were through two minutes later, spreading mayhem before them. Surprisingly there were not that many soldiers inside, so it was less trouble than Squall expected to link them together with ropes, Float them, and haul them outside. Selphie giggled maniacally and dashed forward to tie the ropes to the back of their car so they wouldn't have to exert themselves any further.

They did one more sweep of the base before setting the explosives, triggered the self destruct on the way out, and hightailed it out of range after reapplying Float to their captives. Selphie stopped at the crossroads and hopped out, and tossed a bunch of tents, water bottles, and rations on the ground as Seifer and Squall untied the soldiers and moved them off to the side. They were soldiers, yes, but that was no reason to leave them out in the middle of nowhere with no supplies. As soon as the base imploded they piled back in their car and Selphie pushed it to maximum speed on a course toward Timber.

"That should put a kink in their plans," Irvine commented, then leaned over to kiss Selphie on the cheek. "Such a clever little firebug."

"Irvine! Don't flirt with me while I'm driving," she said with a laugh. "I need to concentrate!"

"Right, right. I'll just sit here and admire you. And if you're nice to me I might even let you wear my hat later."

Squall rolled his eyes and sat back, adjusting his position slightly when Seifer wrapped an arm around his shoulders again. For a moment he considered asking about it. Instead he tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. "We'll have to see if we can drive across Horizon Bridge to FH rather than walking," he mused, forgetting that it had already come up.

"Possibly bumpy ride if we do," Seifer replied, "but it might still be faster. Less taxing on us, certainly. Hey, you're kind of tense. Take a nap or something. I'll wake you if necessary."

He did feel tense so he closed his eyes without protest and focused on getting his muscles relaxed, one group at a time. They must have thought he had drifted off because after a while he heard Selphie speak to Seifer in a reasonably quiet tone.

"So, Seifer," she said teasingly. "Got a thing for Squall, do you? You look awfully cozy back there."

Seifer jerked slightly and Squall let his head loll to the side, his cheek coming to a rest against the blond's chest, and could feel his hair falling down to cover part of his face. It was strange how Seifer kept getting so close to him, but it was probably all innocent. He had never once seen Seifer eye another man, but he supposed that meant little. It wasn't like Squall advertised that he eyed anyone. And indeed, he went out of his way not to when there was any chance at all it could be witnessed.

"Don't wake him up," Seifer replied quietly. "He did something I never expected to see yesterday, and then got us moving, first on the base plan, then on a reasonable escape path. He's had a tough two days. Not one of us spoke up when he asked if we had something to say. And yeah, I admire him for it."

Squall could feel the arm around him tighten and that Seifer had angled his head to look down at him.

"I totally agree," she assured him. "I've had one too many team leaders who expected people to shut up and obey. They didn't want your opinion. Squall, on the other hand, has proven that not only does he expect us to think, he expects us to speak up, and wants us to be able to come to an agreement. He wants a team with a leader, not a leader and some flunkies." And then she teased him again. "But you didn't answer the question. Come on, it's not like we'd make fun of you. He was super nice to me when I first got to Balamb Garden. Showed me around and everything when I asked for help. Granted, I was convinced he was incapable of smiling or laughing by the time we were done, but still. He's been your sparring partner for how long?"

Seifer's chest rose and fell in a deep breath, and Squall could only imagine what kind of face the blond must be making at the rear-view mirror.

"Leave it alone for right now, okay, Tilmitt? Go back to flirting with Irvine."

"Fine, fine. But don't think I'll forget," she threatened, and then her voice dropped too low in her resumed conversation with Irvine for him to decipher over the noise of the vehicle.

He went back to focusing on relaxing muscle groups and drifted off a short time later. He was awoken by a gentle shaking and sat up properly in response. "What?" he said groggily, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

Selphie twisted around in her seat and said, "We're at the bridge now. Irvine is checking to see if we can just drive it or if it'll shake us to pieces in the attempt."

Squall nodded and ran a hand through his hair, then over his face. All that work un-tensing his muscles and now his neck ached a bit from the angle it had been at when he fell asleep.

Irvine got back in the car a few minutes later and shut the door quietly. "It's fine. Just try to edge closer to one side or the other to avoid where the rails are inset a bit."

"It's about 20.30," she said. "Shall we have a meal before we continue, or press on and worry about it when we get there?"

"Make the most of what light is left," Squall said, then reconsidered. "If you're all right to keep driving, that is."

"I'm good," she said with a nod. "We should be there in approximately two hours unless we're forced to stop along the way. But if you'll excuse me for just a moment I need to go find a bush or something." She opened her door and hopped out, making a beeline for a small stand of trees not far away.

As soon as she was back Squall got out and relieved his bladder as well, absently noting that Seifer was doing the same off in another spot. Back in the car Selphie was nibbling on a pastry to tide her over and had gotten a fresh bottle of water. She brushed her fingers off after the last bite and started the car again.

Squall still felt groggy from his nap and was tempted to nod off again, but instead looked over at Seifer and said straight-faced, "So, is this a date?"

Seifer raised his brows. ". . .What?"

"You do keep putting your arm around me," he replied, the corner of his mouth starting to twitch. "Isn't that the usual move a guy makes? Oh, there's not enough room between these seats. I think I'll stretch my arm out and—oh, how coincidental, it's now resting around my date's shoulders."

Seifer got that mischievous gleam in his eyes again and grinned. "I don't know, Squall. Can a knight go on a date with the person he's knighting for?"

He smirked faintly, getting the idea that Selphie might be right. And after what he had seen lately of Seifer, he rather thought it might be interesting. "I guess that depends on if the knight has honorable intentions toward the person he's knighting for. You know, aside from the whole business of the knight being a knight for the person he's knighting for."

Seifer's eyes narrowed for a second. "Of course he would. How could a knight be honorable in one aspect and not in the other? For a knight to be a knight for the person he's knighting for he must be honorable in all respects."

"You do have a point, and very well spoken it is," he replied, then countered with, "But if the knight has never considered going on a date with the person he's knighting for, I suppose it would be a moot point, would it not? Because the knight would not ask the person he's knighting for on a date in the first place."

Seifer started chuckling and shifted in his seat so he could better face Squall. "I'm not sure the knight would ask the person he's knighting for out on a date if he thought the person he was knighting for was not interested in dating the knight who was knighting for them."

Squall couldn't hold it back any longer and started laughing silently.

Seifer leaned in and murmured, "Would you like to go on date with me, Squall?"

He nodded, still trying to contain himself. "Yes, I think I would."

"Good." Seifer grinned again. "Though . . . where?"

Squall shrugged. "Maybe in Esthar, once we finally get there."

"If nothing else we can split up for a while from those two in FH, assuming the place is friendly." Seifer paused and glanced at the ceiling. "Though, from what I remember, they really dislike fighters, so they might not welcome us when they see we're armed."

He shrugged again. "We'll see. If we have to move on quickly we will. Though maybe while we're there it'll be possible to send another message to your friends, or check to see if they've responded."

"Yeah. I urged them to get the hell out and told them where we were heading. All in code, of course. They never wanted to be SeeDs anyway. They were in it for the education. Raijin wants to start a small restaurant and I think Fujin plans to manage it."

"Really. I had no idea he could cook. I know he loves to fish. He must given the number of times I've noticed you three down on the docks."

"Mm, he does pretty well. Say, you willing to tell me yet about your reaction to what Irvine said about Sis?"

Squall froze, surprised he had forgotten about that already. He glanced toward the front of the car, saw Selphie's eyes looking at him from the rear view mirror, and almost refused. "Sis was special to me. It's like she was my sister in blood. No matter how much I got annoyed by something, or angry, or sad, she was there to help me feel better. When she just disappeared—I remember I kept looking for her. Matron wouldn't tell me where she'd gone. I was such a miserable little thing after that, and you kept bugging me to be like I had been. I think I forgot about the orphanage because her leaving really hurt me. If I'd been older it would have been different, I think."

Seifer nodded, and where Squall thought he might once have mocked him for admitting to something like that, he simply gave him a small smile and put his arm around Squall's shoulders again. "Maybe we'll see her again some time."

"Yeah, maybe."

. . .

Quistis screamed in frustration inside her mind. Bad enough that they had three team members she had never met nor worked with before in any capacity. Bad enough none of them were SeeDs and could only rely on their own humanity in a fight. That alone made her grind her teeth. But then to have realized Rinoa had gotten involved and was going to die if they did not get up there fast enough. . . . The moment the gates were clear and all eyes were on the parade vehicle she tugged on the sleeve of the sniper and—

—screamed mentally. 'It's like she knew we were going to make the attempt! The sniper's shot was perfect and she blocked it!' As the current team leader she knew what her duty was, and even as she started moving to comply she fully realized and appreciated the enormity of the distance and obstacles involved. A somewhat bitter smile twisted her mouth as—

—the sniper was useless at short range and had fled. Rinoa was a basket case and had fled just like the sniper the moment they had finished _climbing_ over the damn gates. By the time she made it all the way to the arch Nida was already staring at the sorceress with an expression of loopy adoration, Zell was knocked out, the other Galbadian was nowhere to be seen, and—

—it had only been due to the sorceress's sheer arrogance that Quistis had been able to get Zell out of there, first using Float to help her literally steal him off the stage, then waking him up a short distance away, then running flat out for the car rental agency. By the time they reached Dollet she was exhausted, but could not yet stop. No, they had to get a train down to Timber and transfer to one to Balamb. It would be less suspicious that way.


	5. Five

**Written**: 11 June 2011

**Notes**: My pet name for Quistis's bunch is Team Stupid, if you hadn't already consulted your psychic adviser and found that out. She is an _amazingly_ useful fighter in the game, but she does rather piss me off a lot—never, ever as much as Rinoa does, though.

I do something in this chapter I would normally use the "Person summarized..." method on, but I had something specific in mind to show when it came to one of the characters. Meh... I choose the strangest things to go into detail on.

* * *

Selphie brought the car to a gentle stop just when they could see lights up ahead and twisted in her seat to look back at Squall. "Hm. Leave the car here and lock it? Find a place to sleep tonight?"

He nodded. "Maybe if we're lucky we can drive it straight through town tomorrow and out the other side. If not. . . ." He shrugged and opened the door on his side, hitting the lock before closing it.

A short walk brought them to a technological marvel of a sight. Spread out before them to the north was a simply enormous, somewhat flattened, inverted hemisphere of solar panels, at the center of which was a house. Farther along their walk they could see the makings of an actual town, though everything looked depressingly grey and a bit grimy. He wondered if it was a reflection of where they had come from, or a revolt of some kind given what he knew of the people who had founded this place. Whatever. Seifer tapped his arm and pointed. There was a sign over one of the doors on the left side which said "Hotel".

Inside Irvine asked the man behind the desk, "Do you have any available rooms?"

The man eyed the group and nodded. "Only got two rooms," he said, "but they're both available. Two beds in each, 30g per person per night."

Irvine turned and looked at Selphie with raised brows. She nodded, so he fished out some coins and paid for two nights.

The man leaned out and pointed off to his right. "Up the stairs, room on each side. Keys are in the doors. The center door is a bathroom. And—" He stopped and eyed them again. "Folks, this town doesn't tolerate violence. We discuss our problems and resolve things peacefully. Stay out of trouble and we'll all get along fine. Now, I expect you've been traveling quite a while. It's late, so the café is closed, but I can sell you a few things if you need any food, and there's a hot plate in each room for simple meals."

Selphie beamed a smile at him. "Thank you for letting us know, sir." She grabbed Irvine's arm and dragged him off toward the stairs.

Squall nodded to the—owner?—and followed. At the top of the stairs he grabbed the only visible key and opened that door, stepping inside to see a neat, impersonal room with two double beds and a tiny nook with the promised hot plate, a sink, a coffee maker, and a few other odds and ends. A window at the back was covered with filmy curtains and the beds were set to either side of it, against the walls. He choose one at random and sat down just as Selphie dashed in from across the hall.

"I have eggs and cheese," she announced happily, then added, "I can't cook to save my life."

Squall snorted and wondered if she had somehow managed to stash a cow and some chickens amongst her other supplies to provide for those awkward times, or if she purchased them from the man downstairs. "I can," he replied. "Guess I could make some omelets." He bent down to remove his boots, then stood and took off his jacket, gloves, and blade, laying those on the bed. The sink provided a handy place to wash his hands and by then Selphie had produced a selection of goodies for him to work with. Now, so long as nobody started making jokes about Suzy Homemaker—he wouldn't be adverse to cooking for them again. They had all been given lessons in field cooking, after all, even if some of them still couldn't cook. A short time later they were perched on the beds eating.

"So tomorrow," Seifer started, "we check out the town in pairs, see what's available, see if anyone has information on getting to Esthar, and if we can drive instead of walk."

"That about covers it," Squall said after swallowing. "Somehow I doubt this place is as utopian as they would have us believe, so let's stay alert."

"With any luck we won't be here long," Irvine said. "A pacifist town is no place for people conditioned for battle readiness."

They finished up quickly and Selphie and Irvine headed back to their room. Squall was about to wash up when Seifer grabbed his plate and fork and began to do it. "It's only fair," he commented. "The cook shouldn't have to clean up. Oh, I noticed a terminal downstairs. I'll check it in the morning to see if I got a response."

He nodded and started rummaging through his supplies for something to sleep in. "Going to take a shower. Assuming it's not already in use." Indeed it was not, so he was shortly back in the room feeling much better. Seifer left and was back a short time later, looking as refreshed as he felt.

"I don't know," he said doubtfully once Seifer had stretched out on the other bed. "This place looks really run down, but it's hard to see it clearly in the dark. If they haven't been keeping the rail maintained we may have to walk after all."

"Don't stress out about it yet. I can already see your shoulders tensing up again. Let's just get some rest and see what happens in the morning."

"Hn."

. . .

He came down the stairs and paused briefly at the sound of Selphie's cheerful voice, then continued on to see her at the front desk chatting up the owner. Seifer was busy at the public terminal and Irvine was staring out the window. He walked over to stand near Seifer and wait.

"Oh, yes," Selphie was saying. "I've always wanted to travel and now that I'm old enough—well, of course I was going to! It can be a bit scary out there in the wilds, though," she said and indicated the nunchaku hanging at her waist. "But I have these to make the monsters go away. Nothing ruins a scenic picnic like a monster barging in!"

He noted that the owner seemed a bit charmed by Selphie's personality and stifled a snort.

"There's nothing like that around here, though, right?" she asked, and plowed on after the man nodded, "Perfect! So what's there to do around here? I mean, we're just passing through and all, but—"

Squall glanced over at Seifer to see him still busy typing away, and decided to join Irvine at the window.

"—guys must be really smart," Selphie burbled excitedly.

"It still looks pretty grim," Irvine murmured, "but what can you expect for a town built around a bridge?"

"—must have some really fantastic cooks if fish doesn't get boring after—"

"She gotten anything of interest out of him, or did I get here too early?" he murmured back.

"Too early, unfortunately, but the café the guy mentioned is just two doors down."

"—master fisherman! Really?"

Seifer wandered over with an amused expression. "You ready, Squall?"

He nodded. "See you guys at the café for lunch?"

Irvine tipped his hat in response, so Squall headed out with Seifer. 'Hn, it really does look—' They stopped by the café long enough to get some fresh pastries to eat while they walked around and set out to really explore. Almost the first thing he noticed was that some of the tracks were damaged, but there was a train station around the bend with wide, shallow steps leading up to it. Inside was more evidence of damage no one had bothered to do anything about, but the tracks themselves looked clear.

Back along the tracks in the direction of their vehicle they encountered a slight issue. There was an abandoned train car on the tracks near the solar panel dish—something he had mistaken for a building of some kind the night before—but there was enough room on the station side of it for their car to slip by and back onto the tracks themselves.

Once that was out of the way they stopped to admire the array. "That probably powers the whole town, and used to power the station."

"It'd be like living in a fishbowl down there," Seifer said with a snort. "Can you imagine looking out the window and being blinded by the reflected light? Hey, do you regret having quit?"

Squall faced him and shook his head. "No. If the plan'd had a chance in hell of working it might not have come to that, but I don't regret the decision I made, even before I knew about matron. Working toward being a SeeD was all I ever really knew, but that first mission started me thinking pretty hard. I wasn't exactly what you'd call happy at Garden anyway, but when your first mission is that much of a fuck up, and then you get completely nonsensical orders for another one. . . . I proved to myself I could do it—become a SeeD. I just didn't lose my judgment and reasoning ability in the process like some others I could mention. The four of us will find something productive to do, even if we have to create the roles ourselves."

"It's a little ironic that I finally made SeeD, only to quit days later." Seifer chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "But I'm okay with it. You said what we were all thinking, ruthlessly outlining the flaws, voicing your suspicions. I couldn't in good conscience stay a SeeD, not when we were being manipulated like that, not after you spelled it all out. Anyway, I got a response. They said they were going to pack up as soon as they hit send and would also see about grabbing some of the things we left behind if they could swing it."

Squall arched a brow questioningly.

"Fujin is pretty damn small. She can fit through the ventilation system shafts," Seifer explained with a grin. "The fact that we were assigned singles helps. No worrying about running into roommates while dropping in for a visit."

"Nice," he said admiringly. "Whatever she can manage I'll be grateful for. I just hope Irvine didn't leave anything precious behind." He shook his head and started walking again, back into town proper. "I wonder where these people hide their other food sources. All I can see so far are docks, docks, and more docks. Maybe they export fish to the west and import other foodstuffs."

"I spotted a bar earlier. How about we go eavesdrop for a bit. I'm sure we can both nurse a drink for an hour."

Seifer started flirting with the barmaid after she started flirting with him and soon he was getting all kinds of interesting information out of her, though not much of it was relevant, unfortunately. An amused Squall just nursed his drink and listened to the conversations around him, not that there were all that many people present at that time of the day. Eventually they wandered off to the café and met the others, had lunch, and were soon enough back in Squall's room perched on the beds.

"We can drive the car through," he started, "with a little maneuvering. Not sure they'll appreciate it, but it isn't like we'd be doing any actual harm. I think if we left at first light there'd be less chance of anyone getting close enough in time to complain."

"People enough come through here on their way to Esthar," Selphie said, "and some even come through here on the way out. The guy I was talking to only added that bit after I went on about a movie I'd once seen where people kept trying to escape an oppressive regime to some place called Sanctuary and were, in reality, being captured by a crazy robot and being frozen. They all walk, though, and we'll have to ditch the car on the other side.

"Anyway, there's not a lot of land you can move around on otherwise because of the cliffs, so the only place you can really go is straight east into what they call the Great Salt Lake, and that supposedly ends in sheer drops too steep to climb down. There's obviously a way through, though, but all I could get were coy hints like not everything's at it seems. I know we can figure it out with a little effort," she said confidently.

"All right. We'll set out at dawn."

. . .

They rented a car to speed up their journey to Balamb Garden and squealed to a stop outside just off the road. Quistis and Zell continued on foot, stopping in confusion before they got very far. The Garden Faculty up ahead was acting very, very strangely, and students were running around like mad, checking out every nook and cranny in sight. "Seize him! Kill him if you must!"

She cautiously approached the Garden Faculty and opened her mouth to ask some questions when it rounded on her and demanded, "Whose side are you on? Why aren't you searching! Cid must be found!"

"What's going on? Did something happen?"

"Why are you asking questions? You must be on _his_ side!" The Garden Faculty blew a whistle and when creatures appeared, pointed at Quistis and Zell. "NORG is the true ruler of Garden!"

She was still confused after the monsters had been defeated, but the Garden Faculty was no longer around to question. And at that, he'd probably just set more monsters on them. Quistis looked around for _someone_ she could interrogate and spotted one of the Trepies. She narrowed her eyes and ran over, grabbing the girl by the arm and hauling her around so she could see her face. "What is going on?" she said slowly and clearly.

"Oh my gosh, you're back," the girl simpered. "It's just crazy around here! The Garden Master has set the Garden Faculty to organizing a search for the headmaster, but we don't know why. They're demanding the students and SeeDs side with them and fights keep breaking out."

"So you don't know where the headmaster is?"

The girl shook her head.

"What about Xu?"

"Um. . . ."

"Never mind," she snapped. "Start making sure the younger students are safely out of the way. Get some help from your friends. If you see Xu tell her I'm here and need to talk to her. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the girl cried, and snapped off a salute before racing away.

"We need to find Xu," she muttered.

She and Zell canvassed the entire ground floor of the structure, battling monsters set upon them by Garden Faculty, and eventually headed for the lift. They had just finished investigating the last classroom on the first floor when Xu came into view. Strangely, Xu was acting awfully cautious considering they were best friends. "Thank Hyne," Quistis said. "Xu, what's going on? Everything's already gone to hell with things over in Galbadia, and we come back to find this? This is a school and training facility, not a free for all arena!"

"Whose side are you on, Quistis?" Xu asked.

Quistis gaped at her. "I'm on whatever side you're on! How can you ask me that? We had to flee for our lives from Galbadia. We _have_ to update the headmaster. I'd give you the details right here and now, but not with all of this craziness going on."

Xu shifted position, clearly thinking it over, then nodded. "I've never known you to lie to me, Quistis. Come on."

The headmaster was in his office, which, according to Xu, had already been searched at least twice. When Xu tried to remain outside Quistis dragged her in anyway. She snapped off a salute to the headmaster and exhaled heavily. "Headmaster. I'm so glad to see you."

Cid smiled and said, "It's always nice to see you, too. What can I do for you?"

Quistis frowned slightly. Had he always been this . . . out of it? "Sir, I need to report on the joint operation in Deling City."

Cid turned away and wandered over to his desk, taking his own sweet time before turning back and leaning against the edge. "Yes, yes, I heard there were some problems. Garden Master NORG seems to be in a bit of a pother over it. Why don't you fill me in on the details, hm?"

'O—kay. The Garden Master is trying to see you killed and you call it a pother?' "Yes, sir. But bear with me while I include some additional information, as well. Zell and I arrived at Galbadia Garden with the joint operation orders and were waiting to see Headmaster Martine. We ran into Squall, Selphie, Nida, and Seifer, who appeared to be just arriving. They informed me that they had fled Timber when President Deling was assassinated, along with their client."

Cid nodded absently. "I do seem to recall that Seifer went off to have a bit of a holiday before his first mission. He turned up in Timber?"

She nodded. "Apparently he visits there on a regular basis. I showed them to the guest suite and then met Headmaster Martine and turned over the orders. I came out of that meeting knowing where it would take place and that all of us would be taking part in it. The next morning we were briefed and the orders given to Squall, and provided with a sniper from Galbadia Garden. We left Garden and proceeded to Deling City, where we met up with General Caraway. He explained the details of the operation and gave us orders to return the next night to have the final meeting. We left and Squall issued orders to scout out the situation, giving each smaller team specific things to concentrate on, then we met back up a few hours later. This is where it all started to go haywire."

Cid raised his brows and rubbed his nose with one hand.

"We gave our reports, he thought about it for a while, then picked the plan to pieces. He also asserted that it was obvious we were being set up to take the fall—Garden and SeeD, I mean. Things started to get nasty at that point, which is when the sniper from G-Garden informed us that we all, Nida excepted, used to be at an orphanage together and—" She stopped at the pained expression on the headmaster's face. "Sir?"

Cid just waved his hand around vaguely. "Go on."

"And our matron was the sorceress. Selphie obviously remembered something about it, Zell started to remember, and all hell broke loose at that point. The upshot is that the sniper and Selphie resigned, followed by Seifer, and then Squall, leaving me in charge." She paused again briefly at the faintly panicky expression on the headmaster's face. "Zell, Nida, and I returned to General Caraway with the news and to request more help from G-Garden. We also discussed some of the flaws that'd been brought up and how to counter them.

"The next night we had the final meeting and the two teams split up to get to their assigned locations. Everything went according to plan until the sniper took his shot. The sorceress blocked it. My team moved to join them in accordance with the plan, but the sniper fled as soon as we were back on the street. The Timber client, who had gotten involved without any warning to us and forced us to rescue her on our way into position, also fled.

"When I got to the target Zell was unconscious, Nida was completely under the thrall of the sorceress, and the guy from G-Garden was nowhere to be seen. I managed to get Zell and run before the situation got any worse. There was no way I could have taken her on by myself and lived. Zell and I fled to Dollet and took a train to Timber where we could just exchange, and came here." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Squall was right," she admitted reluctantly. "The whole thing was a mess. And now I'm worried that Galbadia will come after Balamb Garden after the sorceress takes over G-Garden as her base of operations."

Cid somehow managed to look both pleased and unhappy at the same time. "There may be a way," he said slowly, "to protect ourselves. This building used to be a shelter, long before it was remodeled into the Garden we know. Here." He produced a key from his pocket and held it out for her to take. "This will unlock additional floors for the elevator. Rumor has it that deep below the MD level is some kind of control system from when this was still a shelter. However, I have no idea what's down there or what protection it might afford us. All I can ask is for you to do your best."

An hour or so later she was frustrated beyond belief, having already almost died twice, but they had finally found the control center. Did any of it make sense? 'Of course not!' she complained.

"So what do we do?" Zell asked, looking over the panel in front of them. "I can't read any of these labels. Can you?"

Perhaps it was time, just this once, to take a page from someone else's book. "No, I can't, and we don't have time to find a translator." She started pushing buttons at random and flipping switches. The next thing she knew the strange machinery farther ahead began moving, crackles of electricity crawling up and down it, and they were jolted as the platform they were standing on rose into the air. She grabbed a railing and held on for dear life.

The impromptu lift carried them up—and _through_ the floor—into the headmaster's office and a bit higher, carrying him and Xu along with them. It was then that they noticed the metal 'halo' above Garden had started to spin and descend. 'But after just rising through the floor I can't find it in me to panic over seeing this,' she thought. They were severely jolted not long after it dropped out of sight and their view was blocked by thick clouds of dust.

"Are we moving?" Xu asked, hauling herself up from the floor. "Damn, I can't see anything out there. Wait, yes. We're moving!" She helped the headmaster up before looking outside again. "We're—going to crash into the sea!"

"Oh no!" Zell squawked. "The ground floor will be flooded! We gotta do something!"

Cid looked up from where he had been examining the control panel and sighed. "I can't seem to make it work. Quistis? Xu? Any ideas?"

Quistis stepped up and looked at the panel again, this time more closely. It still made no sense, but she could see where some of the controls were more worn than others. In particular there was a set of eight buttons in a circle. 'Maybe directional control?' She glanced up and saw the water straight ahead, and panicked. 'Why isn't there a big red button for stop!' She started hitting things at random again, to no avail; they crashed into the ocean anyway.

Zell moaned and peered over the edge of the platform they were on. "Too high to jump!"

"This!" Xu said and stepped onto a portion of the floor which was different in colour and obviously separate. She looked around for some kind of control and stamped her foot in frustration after a moment, then wobbled precariously when the spot she was standing on lowered down the the office floor.

Quistis shared a look with Zell and moved forward, just as the lift came back up.

"Found a button down here!" Xu called. "Get on!"

They joined her a few moments later and raced off for the main elevator, taking it down one level. Quistis rushed out onto the walkway and leaned over the railing. To her surprise there was no water at all, except what was normally there. "Huh?"

Xu nodded, looking surprised and grateful, then shook her head. "I have no idea. I'm going back to stay with the headmaster. You two head down and see what's going on. You still have a key to the elevator so you won't have any problems getting back up. Hopefully all this commotion has settled everyone down."

. . .

"This is it, the end of the road," Selphie said dramatically, flinging her arm out to indicate the Great Salt Lake. "Yeah, there's no way the car can get through any of that. Pfft."

"All right, darlin', we see it. Might as well break out some food before we move on. Not like we had much of a breakfast creeping around at oh dark hundred."

"I'm kind of tempted to drive the car off the edge into the water back there. Not sure I want people knowing for sure that a car rented in Deling City got this far," she replied.

"Nah," Seifer said. "There's a stand of trees in the distance to the south. We might be able to park it there and throw some camouflage up. If we can't figure out the trick in getting to Esthar we might be grateful it's still around."

Selphie pouted, but nodded, and hopped back in. "I'll be back in a few," she promised, then pulled the door shut and drove off.

By the time she returned they had set up a decent enough meal, and they pressed onward afterward, down into the Great Salt Lake. Squall thought it was a creepy kind of place, and after fighting and winning a battle with an extremely peculiar undead creature, wondered how any normal person traveled the way safely. Eventually they came to a cliff overlooking yet more of the same territory and stopped, wondering whether they should try north or south.

Selphie turned things in their favor by attempting to sit on the edge and dangle her legs, only to smack straight into an invisible wall and fall on her ass. "Huh?" She got up stuck an arm out as though she was feeling her way blind in a lightless room and stepped forward again. "Yeah, that's a wall," she commented, knocking away at what should have been thin air. "This sort of thing doesn't work so well against people who aren't afraid of heights."

"Excellent job, Selphie," Squall said. "If there's a disguised wall here, then there must be an entrance somewhere."

"Selphie and I will check north," Irvine volunteered.

"Then I guess we're checking south," Seifer said. They walked along the 'edge', tapping at the wall and hoping for a difference in sound which would indicate a hollow area, when Seifer tapped his shoulder. "Hey, look."

Squall checked out where he was pointing and blinked. 'No wonder I didn't notice it. Seifer is much taller than I am.' Above even Seifer's head was a spot that kept flickering, almost as if— "A solid illusion?"

"There's a ladder here, too. You just can't see it."

Squall stepped closer and ran his hand around where Seifer was and felt exactly what he meant. Part of the optical camouflage was hiding rungs, and they led straight up to the damaged area.

"I'll be right back," Seifer promised and quickly strode away north.

"I guess this explains the hints," he muttered. And as tempting as it was to just climb on up he waited for the rest of the team. "Hm." He crouched down and began feeling around to either side of the ladder, slowly rising, and paused when he felt an imperfection about four feet above the ground on the right side. A quick push and a mechanical whir sounded above his head. He looked up to see that a square opening had been revealed and the ladder rungs were now faintly visible.

The others arrived and clustered around, so Squall explained about the hidden control. "Nothing has come out, so I think it's safe. Still, there might be a guard inside. Let's stay alert." He began the climb and peered through the opening before crawling in, and he was able to stand immediately. There was a walkway wide enough for two people side by side and off down to the sides were hundreds or thousands of what looked like upright black panels, some of which were glowing. He turned around and knelt so he could stick his head back outside. "It seems safe enough."

After finding a control up top to close the opening—and presumably re-camouflage the exterior—they set off down the walkway. Farther in there were panels at their height and seeing them up close revealed that they were in fact transparent. A small console nearby provided the means to understand what they were seeing. The panels could display just about anything, including the sky.

"Which means that wall is probably made of these things and there's a system somewhere to sync them up to complete the illusion," Irvine ventured. "I imagine it takes into account weather, time of day, etc."

"Very clever," Seifer said. "Want to bet then that the high cliffs surrounding most of this continent is more of the same?"

"Oh, look." Selphie pointed. "That almost looks like an airlock up ahead. This is all probably a combined egress and maintenance area. Maybe those panels down below are replacements in case of damage?"

Through the door was a large hexagonal platform made up of smaller hexagonal pieces, all transparent. There were thick rods with cabling attached running by two of the edges and affixed to the platform with hinged extensions. "No way out from here," he muttered.

"Might as well give it a shot," Irvine said. "Might be another hidden entrance."

"I'm for it!"

Squall nodded and started to step forward, but paused. "Did anyone notice any cameras out there? I'm wondering if that platform is automatic. Or maybe, there's someone monitoring this area and knows there are four of us, and operates whatever is in that room."

"It does make sense for whoever this belongs to to keep an eye on this passage," Seifer said. "I can't exactly imagine an army trying to get through here, but it would be warning they're going to have company."

"I didn't see any," Irvine admitted. "Selphie?"

She shook her head.

"So you're all good with trying it?" Squall asked. "Okay, let's go."

* * *

**Note**: In canon I have a problem with how B-Garden ended up on a collision course with the town. But there were no missiles this time. And frankly, even if there had been, they were coming from the west (originally heading northeast, then east, presumably), which should have meant, perhaps, that B-Garden would have drifted east. (Otherwise, heading east-northeast causing Garden to drift northeast-ish.)

I guess it depends on _how_ they impacted. And even then, the CG of that part is squirrely in how they come in so low over the water, then rise up to aim back down—I mean, do missiles even act that way in real life (not that I've ever heard described, but what do I know)? The point is, coming from the west, the impact wave should have been on the left pushing right, so east impetus, not west or more accurately, west-southwest. The only other option is that they were programmed to hit it from all sides, in which case... *crosses eyes*

So, yeah. No matter how I look at it it's all a bit fucked in the logic department. Anyway... being set into motion this way should mean straight ahead... B-Garden faced south more or less. On the basic map B-Garden was almost directly north of FH, so that plus current/wave patterns/etc. Might explain how it ended up crashing in-game right at the town rather than a more westerly part of Horizon Bridge.


	6. Six

**Written**: 11-12 June 2011

**Notes**: The film in question was chosen because it's a "fantasy setting" not on their planet, and because the idea of using it made me snort in amusement. For all that I mock game "logic" I'm also not exactly taking myself or this story seriously, so to speak.

30 June 2011: I just realized that FFN is stripping my double punctuation again. You know... psuedo-interrobangs. So you're seeing just the exclamation point instead of the combination of that and a question mark. Sorry. :(

* * *

Approximately five seconds after they were all standing on the platform it jolted and began to swing in a subtle arc to the right. The changing perspective made it obvious that the 'room' was made up of more of those panels. After about a fifteen degree shift they were directly facing a panel and the platform stopped, some clunking noises sounded, and then they began to rise. It obviously functioned as some kind of elevator in addition to whatever else they might discover. After several minutes of ascent the platform jolted again and came to a stop.

"Is that a door?" Selphie said, moving forward to investigate.

As soon as she was within a certain distance the hexagon directly ahead split in half and slid to the sides. Beyond it was a short tunnel leading to another platform. Five seconds after they were all in place a blue sheen of light started up to the right and began to travel leftward, revealing in its wake a magnificent city of such size that Squall was having trouble taking it in.

"Whoo-hoo!" Selphie shouted.

The now transparent wall pieces in front of them slid out of the way, rails slid into place to either side, and the platform moved forward. Squall blinked over what looked like one hell of a drop when he noticed the rails also went down. They did not seem to be there as something to hold on to. He was proven correct when the several clunks were heard and the platform dropped swiftly, causing him to grab onto Seifer to steady himself. The rails curved smoothly and they were soon riding along a horizontal track. Overhead and to the sides were tinted transparent tubes in which rode some kind of hover-platforms, but soon enough they were inside another structure and able to disembark—just in time for that high-pitched whine to haunt Squall's ears again.

"Argh! Not now!" he snarled before passing out. He woke up feeling really angry. This time they had been treated to two visions, one of Laguna in some town called Winhill where they had been 'introduced' to Raine and Ellone, and then of Laguna and his friends captive and forced to work in an Esthar facility researching Lunatic Pandora, and where Laguna got roped into being the leader of a rebellion. At least now he knew the time frame of these visions, and was starting to suspect how they were connected. "Is Ellone Sis?" he mused as Seifer helped him to stand up.

Irvine groaned and sat up. "I think she is. And if she'd been taken because Adel wanted her—"

"Then she may have some kind of powers if Odine was keeping her in his lab," Selphie finished, bouncing up from her 'nap'. "I wonder if they came here the same way, or. . . ?"

"I'll give you the details on what we saw this time later," he murmured to Seifer, who nodded. "Does that mean Sis is here?"

"The lights in that tunnel over there came on a couple of minutes ago. I think we're about to have company."

Sure enough, a vehicle came into view and stopped just outside the tunnel, rotated ninety degrees, lowered to the floor, and opened up to reveal a man. "Please identify yourselves and explain your business here."

Squall handled the introductions and the explanation, and they were shortly being driven through the city. Selphie just loved the place given her comment of, "Wow! I want to live here!" and Irvine had a hard time keeping her properly in her seat.

Just when a huge building came into view—the crowning jewel in a jewelry box of a city—the driver informed them, "We'll be arriving at the Presidential Palace shortly." They were escorted on arrival to an upper level and left in the care of another man in uniform after a short conversation out of their hearing took place. That man turned to them and Squall was struck by the resemblance to Kiros.

"I am Kiros Seagill. I'm told you have come with a request regarding Sorceress Edea."

That must mean the even taller man arriving from a side door must be Ward. "Yes, we have." He introduced everyone, then said, "If you're Kiros, he's probably Ward, and . . . Laguna is around here somewhere? Did he end up getting conned into being president?"

Kiros narrowed his eyes. "We are a reclusive people. How did you come by this information?"

"That . . . is a long story," he replied. "Selphie, would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure thing!" Selphie bounced a few times before going into an exhaustive recounting of the visions they had experienced. "So that's how we knew! It's really inconvenient and potentially dangerous to keep being forced into them, but at the same time it's exciting."

Kiros nodded thoughtfully and exchanged a look with Ward, then said, "Please explain your request."

Squall went over the fiasco in Deling City, admitted that they blew up the missile base over there on the way out, and then said, "Basically, we came here hoping that Esthar may have technology we could use to subdue the sorceress. The last thing we want to do is kill her. The powers would just jump to someone else. We don't know what her plans are aside from taking over Galbadia Garden, and probably the rest of the world if she can manage it. But you and the resistance here managed to deal with Adel. If anyone would have some ideas you would, having been right in the middle of the last war."

Kiros was silent for several minutes before saying, "We _may_ be able to help. However, this is something we must discuss internally before I can give you any kind of an answer. I'm going to arrange for a suite for your team at a hotel near the closest shopping area. Just check in at least once a day with the desk for any messages. As soon as I have a response you'll be notified and requested to return here. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes. Thank you for taking this under consideration."

"Good. The city is vast and there are plenty of things to do, and there are a number of places you can visit outside the city as well. The hotel desk is sure to be able to assist you with that. Ward, will you please escort them to the Regent?"

Ward nodded and gestured to them, then headed for the exit. Shortly thereafter they were checking in to the hotel, Ward's presence there a guarantee of their identity. When Selphie began pestering the clerk for brochures and maps Squall remembered something and caught Ward before he could leave. "I thought I should mention that the camouflage on the west side of the Great Salt Lake seems to be malfunctioning a little. It's partly how we figured out where the entrance is. The illusion there keeps flickering."

Ward nodded and gave him a slight smile, then left, so Squall rejoined the party just as a bellhop arrived to show them to their suite. It was an awfully classy place so Squall tipped the young man before firmly showing him out.

"Wow!" Selphie said. "Look at this place! And the city! You could fit a few small countries in a city the size of this one! Do you guys want to hit the restaurant for some lunch or order room service? The clerk said everything is on the government. They all sure wear funny clothes, though."

Seifer apparently saw an opportunity in that and said, "How about we split up for the afternoon? These people seem pretty peaceful despite the level of technology so I don't think we're going to run into any trouble."

"Oh," Selphie said, a grin forming on her face. "I get it. That's a great idea. Here, I got two sets of brochures and a second map. Everyone has their own key? Whoo-hoo! Irvine! Let's go explore!" She dragged him out the door before he had a chance to say anything.

"Not exactly subtle," Seifer said dryly. "You want to look this stuff over first? We could plan out—actually, we've been on the go since before dawn. Why don't you tell me what you'd like to eat and I'll order room service while you shower. We can eat here, go over the places we can visit. . . ."

Squall smiled at him, appreciating the thoughtfulness Seifer was showing. "I'm tempted to say nothing special, but I could really go for a steak right now, medium well. Baked potato, butter, sour cream, chives. Maybe a vegetable on the side. Corn, broccoli, carrots, asparagus—something like that."

"Any dessert?"

His attention turned inward for a moment, considering. "Cannoli if they have it. If not, maybe a piece of cake, chocolate."

"You got it," Seifer replied.

Squall was back in the common room of the suite fifteen minutes later and started examining the brochures as Seifer went for his own shower. Maybe while they were there hotel service could take care of their laundry. Rinsing things out just wasn't enough after a while. A knock at the door sounded while he was reading about Tears' Point so he got up and opened the door to let in room service. The employee wheeled a large cart covered in a snow-white cloth over to a dining table and bowed himself out, not even waiting for a tip.

Seifer emerged a minute later, his eyes alight with pleasure at the sight of the food. He hastened over and started investigating, shuffling things over to the table with careful efficiency. He just nodded and smiled when Squall dumped the brochures in the middle of the table. "For a country that probably doesn't get many visitors they sure do have a lot of tourist-type materials. See anything of interest yet?"

Squall took his own seat and shook out his napkin, then armed himself with knife and fork. "Tears' Point sounds interesting. There's also Lunar Gate and the Sorceress Memorial. All outside the city. Inside are the usual things. Shopping, restaurants, bars, etc. The city is so large it's divided into districts and each has its own set of amenities." He looked down at his plate and smiled, then dug in.

A while later he was feeling pleasantly stuffed. As Seifer was transferring dishes back onto the cart Squall said, "I almost don't want to go anywhere yet."

"We could just watch a movie," Seifer suggested, then wheeled the cart out so it was parked in the hallway for staff to remove. "There is that huge television, after all." When Squall gave a nod Seifer sat down and snagged the remote, draping his left arm along the back of the sofa. "Let's see. . . ."

Squall obligingly took a seat next to him and eyed the screen, shaking his head at movie options until one caught his eye. "How about that one? Fantasy, action. . . ." Seifer hit play so Squall settled back comfortably to watch "The Spirits Within". Ten minutes in Seifer's arm dropped down around his shoulders so he leaned against him and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

"Why do movies like this always have such strange names for places?" Seifer asked rhetorically.

"Damn, look at the texturing on that guy's face," Squall said a while later. "You'd almost think he was a real person."

"Did you catch which studio put this together?"

"Uh, Square, I think."

"Oh! What a way to die!" Seifer commented after seeing a bunch of people get their souls ripped from their bodies.

"Well, at least it's probably not painful."

"Ha! They drive like Tilmitt!"

Seifer switched it over to a news channel when the movie was over—having seen during the credits that the studio was actually located somewhere in Esthar—and said, "So, no kinky stuff on the first date, huh?"

Squall laughed and shook his head.

"Damn. Did you notice? There's a hot tub out on the balcony."

Now that wasn't a bad idea. The lack of swim trunks, on the other hand—'Hn. It's not like we've never seen each other naked before. Why not?' "Sounds good." He started to get up in search of towels when Seifer pulled him back and cradled his face with one hand, then leaned in and kissed him. 'Damn. Just what I needed. A hard-on right before hopping into a jacuzzi,' he thought, then lost himself in the kiss. Seifer practically had him laid out on the couch when Squall inserted a hand between them and pushed. "Hey, save it for the hot tub. I'd rather not be like this out here and have Selphie and Irvine walk in."

". . .Yeah."

Squall got up, not bothering to try to hide the signs of his arousal, and grabbed some towels before checking out the balcony. The towels got set aside on the surround and he quickly stripped down, placing his clothes on a nearby table, and slid into the water. The controls were easy enough to manage and he had just started the jets when Seifer came in with a few bottles of water. Those were also set on the surround.

Seifer was shortly in with Squall and sighing. "Oh yeah, that feels amazing. The view is pretty damn good, too. I have to wonder if all these shiny buildings are actually sheathed in solar collectors."

Squall's mind went somewhere else at the word "sheathed" and he closed his eyes briefly. 'Slow down, boy. I don't think sex on the first date is a good idea, never mind that I'm a virgin and in a hot tub. Not a good combination at all.' "I wouldn't be surprised. We can always ask later. That is, if Selphie doesn't come back with a complete history of this country she's dying to tell us about."

"I don't know, Squall. This might qualify as kinky," Seifer said teasingly. "For all we know there are citizens out there spying on us with their telescopes."

"An exhibitionist I am not," he replied, but allowed himself to be drawn in closer to be kissed again. The angle soon became bothersome so he boldly moved to straddle Seifer—it was hell on the knees and shins, but he wasn't of a mind to care just then. Seifer's arms snaked around him to keep him in place and attacked his mouth more vigorously. "Ngh. . . ." Seifer's erection was prominent against his own and Squall could not stop his hips from getting in on the action. The fingers at his neck and back tightened. The last thing he thought before completely losing himself in the experience was that it was good the jacuzzi had a continuous self-cleaning and balancing function. He practically roared when he came and Seifer had to hold him steady when his muscles went rubbery.

"Amazing," Seifer whispered after a minute. "I've never been quite that turned on in my life."

Squall opened his eyes and smiled lazily. "You've taken my first kiss and beyond and I'm pretty damn satisfied with the results."

Seifer's eyes widened in shock. A second later he gave Squall another kiss, this time a chaste one. "I'm going to try not to let my ego get out of hand at knowing that."

"Mm. You're going to have to help me get back into a seat, by the way. I've lost most of the feeling in my legs."

Seifer grinned and helped float him into position.

Squall groaned as his legs unbent and just relaxed back, letting the massaging action of the jets help. "I wonder if Sis is involved in some way with those visions. If so I have a few choice words to say to her."

"Agreed. Though I'm glad Laguna was able to rescue her. Imagine being stuck with sorceress powers at such a young age. I wonder how she ended up at the orphanage, though. Oh, I sent off another message to my guys while you were showering. They made it to Timber and were set to hit Horizon Bridge. I let them know how to get past the illusion and warned them about the escort we got."

"We may only have been escorted because three of us passed out. We would have been well into the city by the time that hover-car showed up otherwise."

"True."

A half hour later they were out of the tub and dressed, watching the news channel. One of the stories featured regarded events in Galbadia, a follow-up to a referenced earlier report about the assassination of Vinzer Deling. "They obviously have some way to spy on what's happening outside Esthar. Agents, maybe?"

The door opened and Selphie and Irvine came in, looking pleased. "Guys," Irvine greeted.

The television volume was lowered as Selphie set to telling them all about their day, though Irvine contributed just as much to the recounting. They had so much to say that it spilled over into dinner at the ground floor restaurant.

The next two days were spent sight-seeing and generally having a good time, pushing worries and concerns to a back burner for the time being. The people of Esthar were very polite, if not a little odd. The lack of individuality when it came to clothing was starting to get on Squall's nerves, though. On the third morning a message arrived from the palace and they were off to a meeting.

A functionary met them just inside and escorted them beyond the room they had initially been received in, down a corridor with a transparent floor, and to a door flanked by two guards. "They're expecting you," said their escort, then walked away.

Squall arched a brow and knocked before opening the door. Inside were Kiros, Ward, and who he assumed was Laguna—Squall was interested to note that he was the only person so far not wearing traditional Esthar clothing. Ward stepped over to the unidentified man and stared.

"Oh, sure," he said, turning around to face the team. "Hey there! Heard you got involved in that mess over in Galbadia. So I'm Laguna, President Laguna Loire of Esthar. Pleased to meet you. Let's all take a seat!"

'I can't quite think of him the same way as before,' Squall thought as he complied. 'He's still a goof, but he has a good heart.' Before he had a chance to introduce his team to the president Laguna started talking again.

"Kiros and Ward told me about those visions you all had. How strange! You're probably interested to know the rest of the story then, huh?" Laguna did not wait for any agreement and pressed on. "After we rescued Ellone I still had a lot of things to take care of so I sent her back to Raine. It was too dangerous for her to stay here with everything going on. We cooked up a plan and used a hologram of Ellone at the Sorceress Memorial to lure Adel in, then pushed her into a sealing machine Odine created for us. Problem solved! After that we built a space station and sent her up there into orbit next to it. Technicians keep a constant eye on the seal to ensure she doesn't escape. It's actually one of the reasons why radio communication doesn't work right now. And then, well, they made me president.

"By the time I could take a break and return to Winhill I was heartbroken to find out that Raine had died and Ellone had been sent away to an orphanage—probably because they were afraid the soldiers would come after her again. But they didn't like me all that much there so it was about impossible to get anything more out of them. It took me quite a while to track down the orphanage, but when I did I found out that Ellone was gone. I have yet to find her, but I've sent plenty of people out looking over the years."

Kiros coughed and Ward shot a look at Laguna, who said, "Oh, right, the sorceress. So you guys were smart enough to see assassination as useless, good. We still have the sealing technology in working order, so that's a point in your favor. Odine could probably whip something up so it was portable. If we know where she is we could try a combination of things to handle the situation without any loss of life."

"Like how we handled the missile base?" Selphie asked.

"Exactly! Great job on that, by the way. We could—" Something started beeping over at the desk. "Hang on, I need to answer that." Laguna hopped up and ran over to pick up a phone. "Uh huh. Oh? Really. Yeah, ready the ships right away. We'll launch in an hour. Right. See you soon." He hung up and returned to his seat. "Possibly bad news. Galbadian ships have been spotted in pursuit of an unaffiliated and are headed toward Esthar. They can't get in, obviously, but I don't like the idea of such an unbalanced fight. We're gonna have to cut this meeting short, I'm afraid. Sorry about that." He stood back up again and took two steps before whirling around to face them. "Say, you guys are pretty well trained, huh?"

Squall nodded, unsure where this was going.

"You want to come along? It'll be fun!"

Squall arched a brow and shot a look at his team. Selphie was grinning—no doubt over the idea of going into battle with her hero—Irvine was nodding agreeably, and Seifer had an excited gleam in his eyes. "Sure."

. . .

As it turned out there was a massive cavern beneath the surface of Esthar which housed the Esthar fleet. The entrances (there were four in various directions) were protected by more illusion walls, which at that point was a surprise to no one. Seifer had found a moment before they left to embark to pull Kiros aside and warn about his friends arriving via the tunnel they had used, and the dark-skinned man sent off a message to someone.

When they arrived at the site it was to see a number of ships flying the Galbadian flag approaching a lone vessel which flew no flag at all. The only explanation for it just sitting there was that it had broken down and was unable to flee. Laguna chirpily ordered his ships to drive away the Galbadians. The Paladin would pull in behind the fighting and try to evacuate the target. Once they pulled alongside Laguna ran out and down to the deck, so Squall and his team followed, just to keep an eye on him.

"Ahoy, unaffiliated ship!" Laguna shouted. "You need to evacuate! We can take your people to safety!"

Faces peered across the distance between them and one man in particular gave them a long look before shaking his head. The people on board kept on making preparations.

"C'mon! We're trying to save your lives!" Laguna shouted. "You have my guarantee that you'll taken to safety! We can even come back later and see about getting your ship repaired!"

More shaking of heads resulted and Laguna was becoming openly frustrated. "Don't these people have any sense?" he muttered. Ten minutes later they were still refusing and Laguna shook his head sadly before turning and gazing up at the control room. He raised an arm and gestured, giving some kind of signal.

Just as the Paladin's engines revved up and the ship began to move another face appeared and eyed them curiously, despite a man on deck trying to pull her back. "Uncle!" she shouted, then disappeared.

"Was that—!" Laguna said, eyes wide, then started as she appeared again, having obviously gotten free and taken a running jump. Laguna, Squall, Seifer, and Irvine all dashed off to the side and the girl landed right in their midst, toppling everyone over in a sprawl of bodies.

"Uncle Laguna!"

Laguna hauled himself up, pulling her with him, and sent another, more urgent gesture at the control room before engulfing her in a bear hug. "My little Elle!"

Squall was torn as he got back up. Potential bruises aside he was thrilled to see Sis again and wanted to know everything about her life since the orphanage. The other part of him was just raring to ask some hard questions regarding his suspicions.

Laguna pulled away and grabbed Ellone's hand, dragging her away as she laughed. But she looked over her shoulder and got a good look at them, and stopped dead, pulling Laguna off balance, nearly sending both of them to the deck again.

Squall's eyes met hers and he knew exactly where he had seen her most recently. At Balamb Garden. "Sis."

"Squall! And Seifer and Irvine and Selphie! What are you doing here? How did you come to be with Uncle Laguna?"

He stared at her, brow furrowed, until Laguna broke the moment with, "C'mon! Let's all go talk!"

A few minutes later they were all in some kind of dining room and being served a refreshments. Once the crewman was gone Laguna burst out with, "I'm so glad to finally see you again! What were you doing on that ship? Where have you been? Did you know I'm the president of Esthar now? What about—"

Ellone leaned over and kissed his cheek, effectively shutting him up. "That's a long story, and I promise to tell you. What I want to know is how you're with Squall and the others."

"And I," Squall said tensely, "want to know if you have anything to do with the visions we've been having."

Ellone looked surprised. "I have this strange power that—"

"Stop right there," he ordered. "Sis, I am more happy than you know to see you again and know who you are, but I am also, with this confirmation, rather angry with you."

"But why? I was trying to—"

"Sis—Ellone. Did you even have any clue where we were when these visions happened? Each time we were knocked unconscious, and could have been beset by monsters or potential hostiles. We risked dying for whatever it was you were trying to accomplish. Can you understand why we might be upset with you?"

She looked stricken at that and her cheeks flamed with colour. "I didn't think—I'm sorry. You're right. I was so focused on what I was trying to do that I didn't think about the potential consequences. I hope you guys can forgive me."

"Uh. . . ." Laguna contributed, and settled back again when Ellone patted his arm affectionately.

"Well, one good thing came out of it. You know more about Laguna now."

Squall narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. 'And what on earth does that have to do with anything?'

"Um, maybe I should start with after Uncle Laguna rescued me."

Laguna perked up and grabbed a pastry to nibble on.

"My escort brought me back to Winhill. When I was reunited with Raine I found out she was heavily pregnant." Ellone glanced at Laguna and winced when he started bashing his head against the table. "She, um, died shortly after giving birth. She—she named her son—Squall."

Squall looked over at Seifer in confusion. "Did I just hear that right?"

"Yes, you did."

He blinked and let his gaze wander back to Ellone, then to Laguna, and back to Ellone.

She nodded and gave him a tentative smile. "Yes, Squall, Uncle Laguna is your father."

"I'm what!" Laguna's head shot up and he looked around wildly. "I have a son. . . . Oh, Raine! If only I'd been there!" He turned wild, watery eyes on Squall, who held up his hand sharply.

"O—kay. Let's set that aside for the moment. I need time to deal with that before it gets talked about." He exhaled heavily and gestured to Ellone to continue, feeling slightly comforted when Seifer scooted his chair over and draped an arm around his shoulders.

"Um, right. The villagers were really frightened that the soldiers might come back to abduct me again so Squall and I were brought to an orphanage. I'm not sure exactly how long we were there when things suddenly changed. Years, though. The children at the orphanage were split up. I and others were sent to the white ship and matron joined us soon after. I assume she saw to homes for everyone else."

'Well, that explains part of things.'

"It wasn't until years later that I was old enough to understand why we were there. It was to protect me and matron. Me from being kidnapped again and matron from—I'm not sure, but I know now it's because she's a sorceress. The children were raised to be SeeDs, like at Garden, just on a ship. Not so long ago matron just changed—it's like she was a different person entirely. She left us! So we sailed to Balamb so we could inform Cid, her husband."

"What!" Irvine said.

"Headmaster Cid is married to Sorceress Edea?" Selphie squeaked. "That's so amazingly romantic and, er, tragic."

'That might explain why Cid is so weird. He probably spends half his time worrying about Edea, and he's been parted from her for years on end.'

Ellone nodded. "It's also how I knew you guys were at Garden. Well, not Irvine, but since you're with the others I guess maybe you were at one of the others?" When he nodded she continued, "I stayed at Balamb Garden for a while with a few white SeeDs as my escort, right up until a short while ago. Things got really crazy there."

Seifer leaned forward slightly. "Oh?"

"I didn't catch all the details," she warned them. "But the Garden Master turned on Cid and got the Garden Faculty to whip the students and SeeDs into a frenzy, forcing them to choose between him and the headmaster. The Garden Master wanted Cid captured, or killed if necessary."

Squall and his team exchanged confused glances.

"Some time during all that Quistis and Zell returned."

Another look got exchanged.

"Not long after they arrived—maybe half a day—Garden somehow uprooted itself and started moving. We crashed into the ocean, but something prevented the water from getting in and flooding the ground floor. Some kind of barrier."

"That would make a certain kind of sense," Irvine said. "If it's mobile then something would have to prevent people from falling. And since Balamb Garden was on an island, it'd have to protect against water, too, I should think."

"Unfortunately they couldn't get the controls to work right, so Garden just kind of went straight ahead, more or less. And then the white SeeD ship returned and fetched me back, so I don't know what happened after that to Garden. And then, as you already know, we were found by a Galbadian fleet and pursued. We managed to get away at first, but then the ship broke down. You arrived in time to help, and once I realized that Uncle Laguna was the one shouting for us to evacuate I jumped."

"If Balamb Garden is mobile. . . ." Selphie trailed off thoughtfully.

"Odds are Galbadia and Trabia Gardens can be as well," Squall finished. "History says that when Centra was hit by a Lunar Cry they evacuated everyone—about eighty years ago I think it was. The Gardens are probably what they used to get away from Centra. And that means Edea has an easy way to move the entirety of the Galbadian Garden students and soldiers, since from what Ellone said they can move on land and sea."

"Assuming she knows they can move," Seifer said. "But if they have a fleet out and about, odds are they know by now. And if they went after the white SeeD ship, they were after Ellone. But why? Edea can't be that old. She can't possibly be looking for a successor like Adel was."

Ellone shrugged. "There's nothing special about me aside from my ability. I don't see how that would be of any use. I was only taken because soldiers were gathering up many little girls to see if they would suit Adel. Right, Uncle Laguna?"

"That's what I was told. But Odine was really interested in you for some reason, which is why I sent you on ahead home."

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'm going out on deck for a while. I need to think."


	7. Seven

**Written**: 12-13 June 2011

**Notes**: Yeah, I went there. I'd be ashamed of myself, but I seem to have misplaced that emotion just recently. Uh, Odine has no 'written' accent. I just can't deal with that trauma a second time. Just, you know, pretend it's some wacky German accent or whatever the hell they were trying for in the game.

* * *

Squall was thankful that no one tried to join him. He stood there, staring out at the waves, and tried to come to terms with having inadvertently reunited with his father, a man who apparently had no idea his wife had been pregnant. His mother was Ellone's adoptive mother and his father was her 'Uncle' Laguna. She really was his sister, even if not by blood. What had Ellone been trying to do? Soften him up for this startling revelation? Or something else? He would have to ask later.

He had a living father. If the villagers had held on a while longer before sending them away, or the resistance had managed to contain Adel sooner, so many things could have been different. He would have been raised with the love of a biological parent, with his sister. He might not ever have met the others, and matron had been a kind and loving woman, but he ached inside for what he never had a chance to know.

'I can't hold this against him,' he thought, massaging his shoulder and neck absently. 'I already thought he had a good heart and this doesn't change that. If nothing else the visions did help. Heh. Now I have more reason to be happy with my decision to resign. Will he want to _be_ my father. . . ? I think so. I don't really need a guiding hand now . . . and I don't expect it to be easy . . . but I can learn.'

Sudden darkness startled him out of his thoughts; they had returned to the fleet cavern. Squall walked slowly to where they would disembark and was joined by the others before he quite got there. He sent a small smile toward an anxious-looking Laguna as Seifer draped an arm around his shoulders again, and received one in return. 'It should be okay.'

Back at the palace they settled in Laguna's office, where his father suddenly smiled and said, "Okay! Hey, listen. Are you guys interested in working for me? You'd be like a special tactics team, answerable only to me, Ward, and Kiros. I can set you up with quarters here in the palace, work out a salary, figure out some kind of symbol you can wear so people know not to mess with you. . . . Your first mission could be this whole Edea thing."

The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement. Laguna was Laguna. He and his team exchanged looks again, silently communicating, then Squall nodded and said, "Yes." Something about the situation made him remember a comment from earlier. "You said Adel's Tomb is one of the reasons why radio communications are messed up, correct?"

"Uh huh."

"Just how much? Because Galbadia repaired the communications tower in Dollet and used the television station in Timber to do a live broadcast."

Kiros spoke up on that issue. "The technology involved in Adel's Tomb creates a great deal of interference with wireless communications. However, it is not impossible to use radio waves if the signal can be boosted enough."

He recalled just how grainy the visual on Deling's aborted speech had been and nodded.

"But for everyday use it would take far too much effort, so it fell into disuse. The broadcast in Timber is not a sign that the seals are failing. While the technicians for Lunar Base serve six month shifts, we are capable of and do use a boosted radar system to detect any incoming capsules, and a team is sent for collection. Messages are sent back and forth by capsule on a scheduled basis, though obviously they would be used in an emergency. So we would know almost immediately if a failure of some kind was imminent."

He nodded again. "All right. I still wonder why they bothered, though. How likely is it that people in Dollet and Timber were even watching the outdoor screens? Personal screens would all be running on HD cable by now. Eh, whatever."

"If Edea gets Galbadia Garden mobile maybe we could set a trap of some kind," Irvine suggested. "Use some combination of gasses and technology to interrupt power and knock everyone inside out? We could then go in and remove Edea and see if her powers can be subdued or . . . worst case, sealed."

Selphie said in a rather subdued tone, "Better sealed than bent on world enslavement."

"Odine does have portable technology to subdue those powers," Laguna offered. "Looks like jewelry. If she could be knocked out and a few of those put on in such a way that she couldn't just remove them. . . . I'll have to bring him in for a talk. He's got plenty of other toys up his sleeve. Kiros—"

"I'll send out some drones."

"Drones?" Seifer echoed.

Kiros nodded. "Very small solar powered flyers which can run indefinitely so long as the weather holds clear. We send them out to do reconnaissance sweeps off our borders. And because they make use of a modified version of the optical camouflage system technology they're almost impossible to spot. They store images and other data which we download when they return."

"Nice," Seifer replied.

Squall was feeling surprisingly tired after all the excitement and admitted so. "Maybe we should break for the day. Come back to this tomorrow."

"Sure!" Laguna chirped. "Let me run up some temporary ID cards for you real fast. Then no one will bother you when you come back. We'll get proper ones made later. By the time you get here tomorrow your rooms will be ready, so no worries there." He jumped up and ran to his desk so he could fiddle with something on the surface. ". . .Uh, Kiros?"

Kiros sighed faintly and joined his friend, pushing him out of the way so he could complete the job. He was back in only a few minutes with cards for each of them. "Just clip them on before you enter the palace tomorrow."

"Right." Squall stood and cast a look at Laguna, offering a brief smile, then pulled Ellone up from her seat and gave her a quick hug. "I'm really glad we're a family again, Sis," he whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

They had just exited the palace when Selphie chimed in with an idea. "I say we go shopping! That's always relaxing, right? And maybe we could get some new clothes, yeah? Something to show we're a team without losing our individuality." What she didn't say lingered in the air like a whisper.

Squall grimaced. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Don't know yet, but I will when I see it!"

When they returned to the hotel Selphie had conned them into getting quite a lot of new clothing, but all of it consisted of exactly the same top, just in different colours. She also bought herself a lot of skirts and a new pair of boots. Her idea of a team-unifying "uniform" consisted of a rib-knit, mock turtleneck, sleeveless sweater-shirt that Squall swore he had seen on a spiky-haired blond soldier in a movie he had watched ages ago. She had eyed the guys for quite some time before making her selections. Squall ended up with varying shades of darker blue, Seifer got dark blue and cerulean, Irvine carried back shades of purple, and Selphie, of course, choose cheerful yellows.

Squall thought it was a small enough price to pay for a team bonding event, and besides, he didn't actually mind what she had chosen. He'd been in such a strange mood he even bought himself a new jacket—still black leather, of course—but with a one-inch upright collar. 'Maybe I should be careful,' he thought. 'Her mood can be almost infectious at times.'

By then they were all starving so room service was called and a movie was selected, and they wiled away the evening with yet more. But when it came time to turn in Squall lingered at the door to his room. He cast a look at Seifer over his shoulder and jerked his head slightly, and was rewarded by Seifer joining him rather than seeking his own room.

"I'm feeling a little . . . out of it," he admitted as he sat down and began removing his boots and socks. "I'd like some company tonight."

"I can understand that," Seifer said slowly. "I'd be a little shook up, too. But I'd deny it to anyone else."

Squall half smiled and stood up, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it on the bed. His trousers were next, leaving him clad only in boxer-briefs and his jewelry. His discards were stuffed away and he exited into the bathroom for the usual bedtime activities while Seifer was getting undressed.

Seifer lay on his side next to him shortly thereafter, head propped up on one hand, and with his free one reached out to finger the pendant hanging from Squall's necklace. "The symbol on my jacket is like the one I saw in a movie a long time ago about Zefer, a sorceress's knight. You remember I told you about that dream. What does this mean to you?"

"I like lions. They're fierce, dignified, strong, and courageous. Things I wanted to be. It's a symbol and reminder of my goals. I might have gone a little overboard, though," he said with a rueful chuckle. "You know, for all that Laguna is more than a little flaky, he has a lot of qualities I respect."

"So you think you can accept him as your father?"

He nodded. "I'm not too happy about the way Ellone broke the news, but it's not the kind of thing you can just slip into conversation easily. I'm kind of glad he was willing to help even before that came to light."

"And I'm glad he offered us jobs. We're no longer homeless and soon to be destitute."

Squall looked over to see a grin on Seifer's face and smirked. "Let's get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us."

. . .

As a show of unity they each wore one of their new shirts for the day, and they were soon back in the palace. The functionary at the entrance seemed to be expecting them, as all he did was glance at their IDs and nod a greeting. Without any specific instructions on where to go Squall headed for Laguna's office. The guards stationed outside waved them forward so they went straight in without knocking.

Laguna and the rest were seated at the conference table eating a late breakfast. His father waved them over so they joined, Squall choosing the spot right next to Laguna. "If you're hungry or anything, dig in," his father invited.

Squall decided he could fit in some strawberries and helped himself, as well as poured a glass of milk. "Good morning, everyone."

They were all indulging in some small talk when a knock sounded at the door and one of the palace aides entered. He walked over to Laguna, bent down, and whispered something in the president's ear.

"Really? Send them in. Thanks." Laguna turned to Seifer. "Your two friends have arrived."

Seifer exhaled in relief and grinned. He got up just as Fujin and Raijin stepped in and was over there in a flash, slapping Raijin on the back and patting Fujin on the shoulder. "Join us!" he said happily. "Squall, Selphie, you already know my friends, but everyone else, this is Fujin," he said, placing a hand briefly on her shoulder again, "and Raijin. Fujin, Raijin, let me introduce. . . ."

Fujin simply nodded at each person while Raijin gave them boisterous greetings. They both took places at the table and served themselves something to eat.

Squall made sure to give each of them a nod of greeting, then said, "I trust there were no problems getting away?"

"Negative."

"Nah, it went fine, ya know? We got some stuff for you guys, too."

"That's right. Seifer told me about what you intended to do. Thank you, Fujin," he said with another nod to her. "I appreciate that you took additional time to secure what you could of our belongings, especially doing it the way you had to."

Her one visible eye widened for a moment, then she nodded.

Conversation became slightly stilted with the two new additions, so Squall decided to satisfy his curiosity on a few things. "There were a few things I've been wondering about. It's not directly connected to the plan."

Kiros made a "continue" gesture rather than talk with his mouth full.

Squall turned his attention to Kiros specifically and said, "You told us about how you use capsules to ferry messages back and forth, so I expect that there is some system up there which captures them. Maybe you also use them for things like materials, medical supplies, food supplies—things that don't need an escort, so to speak. Valid assumption?"

"Correct."

"So, my first question is this. Are the protections on Adel's Tomb dependent on Lunar Base?"

Kiros pursed his lips. "Only as a redundancy layer. There are several layers of protection on top of the seal, only one of which can be altered from the base control room. Why?"

Squall huffed quietly and gazed at the ceiling briefly. 'The people in this country are incredibly smart, but I bet most of them aren't all that great at thinking creatively.' "So the tomb itself has protections. I expect then that people would have to spacewalk to it to do maintenance?"

"Yes."

"So what's stopping you from sending out a man with, uh—a canister of compressed air, attaching it to the tomb, and setting it off? Adel's Tomb would then be knocked out of orbit and set on a path into deep space. Even if the protections and the seal failed at some point, she would die before she woke up from her 'nap'. And she'd be too far away for her powers to ever come near this planet and choose some poor girl. An object in motion stays in motion, especially in the vacuum of space where friction wouldn't really apply. So unless the technology degraded or it crashed into something. . . ."

Kiros adopted a nonplussed expression.

"Just give that some thought. Next, is Lunar Base only there because of Adel?"

"Well, no," Kiros said slowly. "They also do research on the moon, the monsters there, and keep an eye out for any signs of a potential Lunar Cry."

"All right. What about the workers at Lunar Base? I got the distinct impression while visiting Lunar Gate that people are sent up in those capsules as well. I can understand using them for an emergency evacuation, but why would they be sent outward that way? You must have had ships capable of space flight in order to build the base, so why not use them?"

"We lost them," Laguna blurted out.

"You lost them," Squall echoed flatly.

"Uh huh. Not really sure how."

"I see. Actually, there's something I need to take care of real quick, so if you'll all please excuse me for just a moment." He got up, sent a strained smile at everyone, and exited the room. Outside he nodded to the guards and smiled, walked about halfway down the corridor and stopped to let out a roar of frustration that lasted a good ten seconds. After a few deep breaths he turned around, nodded and smiled at the shocked guards, and returned to the office.

There he stepped up to his chair and firmly curled his fingers over the top edge of the back. "Sorry, where were we? Right. I need to stress something first. This is important," he said seriously, looking at Laguna, Kiros, and Ward each in turn. "If you had asked anyone at Balamb Garden about me they would have no doubt told you that I'm a cold, heartless bastard who doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself."

Laguna shot him a look of disbelief.

Selphie giggled madly. "It's true! Well, I didn't think that, because he was actually pretty nice to me when we first met, but I did have suspicions at the time that he might secretly be a robot. Still, I heard comments like that all the time and I wasn't even there long before we made SeeD and were sent out."

Squall sent her a faint smile and nodded, then continued, "The reason you don't see that side of me is because for the first time in as long as I can remember I'm around people I'm comfortable with. People I—like. So I'm going to do my best to be low-key here." Laguna looked confused, Kiros looked reflective, and Ward was his usual stoic self. And since Squall had only just reunited with his father and couldn't bear to say what was on his mind directly to the man or his best friends, he pushed away from the chair and began to pace.

"You lost them," he repeated. "So how did that happen? Hm, let me think. Did a few of the pre-flight techs have a wild party the night before and roll into work an hour late on almost no sleep and nursing excruciating hangovers? They neglected to top off the fuel supply because the smell made them vomit, and when the ships left the atmosphere they were unable to use thrusters to maneuver for orbit, never mind stop, so they ended up drifting in space, dying a cold, lonely death out there? But no! That would mean the pilots were also morons for never once glancing at the gauges, so that's out.

"Perhaps the pilots got a little giddy on a bad oxygen mix and thought it was a good idea to inaugurate the First Annual Moon Race. So they agreed to a three lap run around the moon's equator, only for all of them to crash due to impaired reflexes, or maybe because they were caught by some of the larger monsters there and crushed. But, unless everyone up at Lunar Base was napping, I expect you'd have gotten a memo on the subject. After all, those ships were mildly important to this country.

"So what else could have happened? A crew member coming back from a spacewalk was hit by a micro-meteorite and his suit was torn, but did not die a horrible death by decompressive explosion because the airlock closed and cycled just in time. However, because the micro-meteorite which lodged deep under his skin was carrying an _alien virus_ he was infected, and subsequently infected his own ship's crew as well as those of the others due to changeovers. And the next thing you know, Bob's your uncle. They all mutate into horrifying, slavering beasts. Who can't pilot.

"If you lost the ships—however _that_ happened—were more built? Were funds and personnel allocated to replace them? Did it get pushed onto a back burner because the techs who work the base think it's cool"—he even made air quotes with his fingers—" to be sent into cold sleep and shot into space?" He stopped pacing and glanced over to see Laguna staring at him with a face like a kicked puppy.

Then suddenly, Laguna slammed a fist onto the table and started hooting with laughter. "I can believe it now!" he caroled, then looked at his two friends. "Did you hear that? He's really smart. Wow! And he's _my_ son," Laguna bragged, tapping his chest. "I'm so lucky!"

Squall raised his brows in disbelief, his mouth slightly open in surprise, then returned to his seat and thunked his head against the table. Seifer started chuckling and Squall was not surprised when he felt a hand clap his shoulder and squeeze.

Selphie started giggling madly again. "Ha! This was nothing. You should have heard him rip the assassination plan to shreds, then lay into Quistis! I'm gonna treasure that memory forever."

He felt a hand come to rest on his back, but the direction was wrong. He tilted his head, forehead still against the table, to see Laguna beaming at him. Squall gave a tiny, tiny sigh and sat up, then shifted to face his father. "Laguna—dad." He had to pause when Laguna's smile became impossibly larger and his eyes went all shiny. "What I'm about to say has to be one of the most cliché lines I've ever found in books and films, but—don't ever change."

Kiros finally found his composure and said, "You are correct in that more have not been built. We do, however, have in-atmosphere ships, though they are rarely used outside the country."

Squall slid his gaze over and arched a brow, then let his gaze go unfocused as he considered how fortunate that was. "What kind of range do they have? And do they have camouflage?"

"They can fly to any point on the planet, and yes."

Squall nodded and looked at his team. They obviously knew what he was thinking judging by the knowing expressions they sported. He dropped the subject entirely since they were technically still having breakfast and turned to his father instead, asking, "Do you enjoy being president?"

Fifteen minutes later everyone had pushed back, so Ward called for a servant to take away the remains of the meal. Kiros started things off with, "The in-atmosphere ships are smaller, but they should work for that I think you have in mind."

Squall nodded. "Irvine suggested earlier that we set up a trap. Use of a ship for travel would greatly simplify things, especially as you've said it has camouflage. Whatever plan we do work up we could fly over, get things ready, and have a simple way to return with Edea for her to be sealed, and whatever equipment we used. It would be too obvious to use any of the fleet, and taking the route across Horizon Bridge is just plain stupid. Leaving behind traces of what we did would be equally stupid. Has anything come back yet on the the location of Galbadia Garden?"

"Not yet today, but the last known location was near Deling City. Odine will be along a little later to update us on what technology he has which could assist this mission."

"So let's just rough something out for now. Hn." He turned his attention on Fujin and Raijin. "Are you interested in being involved, or would you prefer to just step back from this whole mess?"

The two exchanged a look, glanced at Seifer, then stood up and walked over to the sitting area. Seifer got up as well to join them and the three were soon engaged in a low-voiced conversation.

"Roughly," Irvine said into the silence, "I can imagine creating a disturbance over in Galbadia, though since we already blew up the missile base, maybe we could make a feint at the prison. Set up the hypothetical trap equipment and let Selphie darlin' make something go boom and send up enough smoke that they can't help but notice and come to investigate. The trap would be in their flight plan along with large quantities of fast-acting knockout gas. At that point let's assume that they're powerless, asleep, and sorceress powers have been countered within the confines of the trap area. We gear up and sweep the Garden for Edea. Once we find her we place suppressants on her, bring her back to the ship and transport her directly to the memorial where she gets sealed."

Squall nodded, but said, "It sounds almost too simple, but for that reason alone it might actually work."

"Well if we did it near the prison they might assume we've blown that up, too, and just don't care this time to be low-key about it," Selphie said. "But we'd have the soldiers and guards there to contend with, so it might not be a bad idea to gas them beforehand."

"A good point," Kiros said as Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin returned and took seats.

"Fu and Rai are willing to help up to a point," Seifer said on their behalf.

"So they could help with the set up and sweep?" Laguna asked.

Squall nodded. "We need a map."

Ward tapped a spot on the table and the surface suddenly lit up and displayed one of the known world. A few more taps saw it focusing on Galbadia and zooming in.

Seifer whistled appreciatively, and for good reason in Squall's opinion. The map showed settlements, roads, rail tracks, and geographic features like forests, hills, cliffs, and terrain type, all of it to scale.

"So here's the prison," Selphie said, kneeling on her chair and leaning over so she could tap the table. She slid her finger along and paused. "If we go about a mile north along the road we could set up the trap around it and verify that it's functioning properly. Then we back up a half mile and set the explosives. We head to the prison and gas them so they'll all be napping during the mission. Then we get into position, set off the explosives, and keep feeding it until we get word they're on their way. Then we move to the trap and wait."

"Maybe we should add in smoke bombs back along the road to the prison," Seifer suggested. "Set those off at the same time. Unless there's a machine or something which could generate the stuff. The idea being that if they do manage to see ahead well enough they'll think the wake of destruction includes the prison as well."

"What's the duration on your sleeping gas, Selphie?" Squall asked. "We don't know how fast Garden moves."

"The stuff I used on the missile base soldiers should have knocked them out for a day. But if there's any question about it—if Garden doesn't move fast enough—we could sweep the prison, too. Maybe toss everyone into their own cells with one kept aside. Keep that one under and only release him when we leave so he can go free his buddies."

The door opened and Dr Odine barged in, leaving it to the guards outside to close up. "You have need of my genius!" he declared. "Always there is need of my genius. I have many things which could help!"

Irvine gave the scientist of questionable sanity, ethics, and morals the basics of the plan idea and Odine nodded repeatedly. "I have just the thing," he proclaimed. "The device I made to seal Adel, this is good, it functions well, but one cannot rely on being able to trick a sorceress into such a device. No! So I used my considerable intellect to devise another way to handle the situation should it arise again. I, unlike so many others, am a forward-thinking man. This trap you need I already have designed and built, years ago!"

He stepped over to an open spot at the table and started tapping. A diagram came up showing a set of eight devices arrayed octagonally and connected by some kind of cabling. Unfortunately, the notes included were done in some kind of code that Squall could not decipher. "This will suffice with a slight modification." Odine started tapping again and another diagram came up to overlay the first, blending the two designs. It also showed eight devices arrayed octagonally, but was rotated so the the devices were at the midpoint of every angle. "The first device nulls the sorceress powers. The second device knocks out any electrical systems. I can integrate them so that both will function in harmony."

"How large of an area can it cover?" Selphie asked.

"I was getting to that!" Odine shouted at her. "I would not have showed it you if it would not work for this plan you have concocted!"

She rolled her eyes dramatically in response.

"Drama queen," someone muttered, causing Odine to go off on a five minute rant before calming down and getting back to his toys.

"It is big enough, that is all you need. Tomorrow morning you all come to me and I will show you how to set it up and give a small demonstration. Now, for the other." More tapping saw the combined diagrams vanish and a new one appear. "This is a generator you can use for the additional smoke. It was designed for a film company and can do smoke of varying intensity as well as fog and a few other things. As for when you capture the sorceress," he said, tapping again to change the image, "you can use these."

Squall's initial reaction was that it looked like something people would use on kinky sex nights. And judging by the reaction of his team members they were thinking the exact same thing.

"This will allow you to keep her subdued even should she awake, and she will not be able to escape it. If the knockout gas the girl concocts lasts long enough it should never come up as you will have brought her to the memorial well before that point. That is, if you are not all completely incompetent. I repeat, you come to me tomorrow morning, 10 am, at my laboratory." Odine tapped a few more commands, removing the image, and abruptly left.

"Well isn't he just a charming fellow," Seifer drawled.

Laguna clapped his hands. "All right! Let's show you guys to your rooms!"

. . .

The second Laguna was gone Seifer said, "Nice. We have our own mini-wing of suites with a reception room at the head of the corridor and a communal area at the back."

They entered the first of the suites just to see what they were like and found them to be fairly luxurious but not overly large apartments with a kitchen, combined sitting-dining area, bedroom, and bath. In total there were six available, and he assumed it was no coincidence. Squall and Seifer chose the two closest to the reception room area, Raijin and Fujin the middle two, and Selphie and Irvine the final set.

An investigation of the communal room revealed that it included a dining area with a dumbwaiter on the nearest wall. Other amenities included a pool table, a section with multiple bookcases filled to the brim, and several terminals. Selphie immediately dashed over to one and sat down and shortly informed them, "Trabia responded. They've figured out how to get it moving and it's in readiness, but no one has bothered them. Of course, if they do have to move they'll be disconnected so finding them after that should be amusing. At least I know they're okay."

Irvine headed over to the dining table and tapped it experimentally. When nothing happened he examined it closely and tried a few other spots, eventually managing to bring up a menu system. "Well, at least we know how to order if we don't feel like cooking. I wonder if each suite has something like this to order groceries."

"Well I won't be using it if there is," Selphie declared. "I'll just order out here."

Squall looked around one more time, then headed for the door, saying, "I'm going to unpack. And see about a laundry service."

Fujin broke away from Raijin and followed him. "Belongings."

"I almost forgot about that," he said as he entered his chosen suite. "Just put the stuff anywhere and I'll deal with it. And again, thank you for taking the time."

She simply nodded that time and started rummaging. Squall headed first into the bedroom and basically unloaded everything he was carrying. It would be easier to sort it out if he could see all of it from the start. Various things were tossed into a trash bin for being expired, outdated, or just plain of no use to him any longer. By the time he was done sorting and placing several hours had gone by and he was getting hungry. A look through the kitchen revealed that a section of the wall held not only another dumbwaiter but also an ordering panel, but he declined to use it just yet. Instead he exited his suite and knocked on Seifer's door. It was opened a minute later. "I was about to order some food supplies and cook something. You interested?"

Seifer smiled. "Definitely."

"Anything in particular you crave?"

Seifer leered at him.


	8. Eight

**Written**: 14 June 2011

**Notes**: I realize I have absolutely no sense of scale for the distances in this version of the FF world, so I'm winging all of it in that respect. Luckily, none of you can sue me if it's all utterly warped.

* * *

Seifer answered Squall's question with, "Hm. Something involving chicken."

He could do that. While he was preparing the meal he said, "I guess the qualities of an ethics-deficient scientist shift in perception when he's working for the good guys."

Seifer shuddered. "Why yes, I did design a sealing system the other day, but only because that Adel person was dictating too much of my research focus and stifling my creative evil. Pfft. Just imagine if he was any worse in the morally corrupt department."

"Imagine if he went after you for that—whatever it is you call it that isn't para-magic but looks so much like it thing."

"Oh, chi. Yeah, let's not mention that around him. What are you making, anyway?"

"If you can't tell already by the ingredients you'll just have to wait and see, won't you."

Banter continued through any number of topics which sprung to mind, and, as is so often the case, Squall could not remember most of it aside from a rather heated ten minute debate on whether one-handed or two-handed gunblades were more effective.

They collapsed on the couch after the meal was consumed and Seifer said, "That was amazing. When the hell did you find time to learn how to cook so well?"

He gave Seifer a sidelong look as he nabbed the remote and started flipping through channels. "There's a reason why the cafeteria ladies had such a soft spot for me and always refused to dish up any gossip along with the food. They were some of the very few people who never gave me grief for being who I was, so I spent a lot of time around them when I wasn't otherwise occupied. They taught me a lot about cooking in consequence. I think they all saw me as kind of a shared son or something." He was becoming annoyed with the television; hundreds of channels and none of them showing anything of interest.

They ended up playing Scrabble. Squall finally commented after seeing the last few words Seifer had placed, "Are you trying to hint at something?"

"Hint? I thought I was being downright obvious."

"Oh. I'll refrain from giving you credit for subtlety in the future." Squall leaned across the board and gave Seifer a kiss.

"Sorry," Seifer said, not looking the least bit sorry. "I've been slightly preoccupied ever since that last image Odine showed us."

"Admittedly, so have I."

Seifer leered at him again. "Want to try something along those lines? After all, this isn't the first date, so kinky is allowable."

Squall pulled back, his brow furrowed in doubt. The idea of not having full control of himself—well, he assumed Seifer would be the one in charge. And while he did believe all it really would be was kinky sex play, he—"Not really. I don't think I'm ready for that sort of thing."

Seifer gave a slight shrug and smiled. "Then let's try something more on the romantic side. Let me give you a massage."

That he could handle. Squall nodded and got up, beginning to strip his clothing off on the way to the bedroom. There he undressed fully and stretched out on the bed. Seifer joined him and straddled his thighs, then began working the back of his neck and shoulders. And even though he was not all that tense Squall could not help but groan quietly. Certain muscles as they were induced to relax sent frissons of arousal straight to his groin. Seifer slowly worked his way down, occasionally leaning in to kiss his skin, and when he got to Squall's ass Squall was slightly embarrassed to find that his body reacted with a slight lift of his hips.

Seifer did not comment, but he did apply a bit more pressure than he had been. Eventually Seifer switched targets to one of Squall's thighs, his hands massaging in downward motions only to sweep back up either side, the fingers along his inner thigh applying pressure each time at the inner apex of his legs in a move which could _almost_ be mistaken for casual. His calf was next, then Seifer moved to his other leg.

By the time Seifer nudged him to turn over Squall was aching for release. Naturally, Seifer ignored the obvious and started to work his shoulders, upper arms, and chest before working his way down again, the entire time kneeling beside him rather than straddling him. Again he bypassed the groin and worked Squall's thighs, nudging them farther and farther apart in minute increments until Seifer could easily insert himself between Squall's legs. At that point he crouched over and took Squall's erection into his mouth, causing him to push his head back against the pillow and bite back a moan.

Seifer released him long enough to huskily entreat, "Let me hear you, Squall. Please don't hide from me. I want this to be real. Let me take care of you."

Squall panted harshly and opened his eyes, raising his head to skim his gaze down his body. The sight of Seifer's mouth wrapped around his cock and those eyes staring back at him saw his head slam back against the pillow again, and this time he let the moan tear free of his throat. Seifer hummed around him and Squall felt the last of his restraint desert him. He mindlessly accepted it when he felt what could only be one of Seifer's fingers sliding inside him, his body caught between pushing against the intrusion and thrusting his hips upward, and all too soon he was roaring out his orgasm.

He lay there in a daze for some time until Seifer started rearranging the bed cover and working it out from under his body along with the top sheet. Before he knew it he was under the sheet with Seifer holding him close, and he drifted away.

. . .

The airship was packed and ready to launch and they had all been given instruction on how to pilot it the day before after being released from Odine's clutches. The most recent drone report saw Galbadia Garden still near Deling City, as well, though why it was not on the move was a mystery. Better for their purposes, though.

Selphie launched with a whoop of joy, her face alight and radiating her pleasure. Fujin was acting as co-pilot for the trip even though one wasn't strictly necessary, and spent most of her time keeping an eye on the OCS. They arrived a good few hours later and hovered over Selphie's chosen ambush spot after flying a spiral sweep to ensure no one was lurking about. She was just about to land when Seifer suggested, "Let's gas the prison first."

Selphie nodded and headed there instead, grumbling a bit when it was apparent the structure was above ground at the time.

"It's always up unless they have to have bring in or release prisoners or do personnel changes," Irvine said. "Less chance of anyone escaping that way."

She brought it to a hover near one of the three towers and requested, "Fujin, please take over the piloting." Once the controls were Fujin's Selphie unstrapped and got up, then pointed. "Those vehicles could be useful. If we can get the prison to submerge we can drive them out, set them up along the route. It'll give the explosion site the plausible fiction of a target of sorts. We could just raise the prison again afterward and have Fujin take whoever does that on board."

Seifer nodded. "Then we drive them into place, and get on with things."

"Agreed," Squall said. "Let's pass by the entrances of all three and hurl the initial canisters in, then take them one by one. Having seen the configuration of the place I don't feel comfortable splitting up."

"The gas is powerful enough to take out the top floor at least," Selphie said, eyeing the prison closely. "That should buy us time. And from what I can see so far I don't think they have a connection to Deling, not if that thing can submerge. I don't see any cables."

Irvine reached over and hit the hatch release as Raijin and Seifer stepped up with canisters. The moment they had a clear path both hurled theirs straight inside. This was repeated at the other two towers and Fujin brought them back around to the first. Gas masks were pulled on and the five of them piled out, running for the entrance, and short range boosted coms with an encrypted signal kept them in contact with each other.

An hour later all personnel in that tower were gassed into unconsciousness and tossed into cells, and Squall was slightly breathless from the constant running and heaving of bodies. Generators loaded with Selphie's gas mixture were placed on the top two floors once they were done, set on a timer to go off every fifteen hours. Whether they were needed or not they would be removed once they had the sorceress. Two hours later they had seen to the remaining towers and dragged one body out with them as Selphie submerged the prison. Cars were driven out of their respective garages, leaving just one behind. "Fujin, any sign of life out there?"

"Negative."

"Okay. Selphie, we're out. Raise the prison."

"Roger!"

They drove the cars in convoy fashion and stopped them around the half mile mark, then jogged the rest of the way to the ambush site. Fujin landed so the devices could be unloaded, then picked up Raijin and Irvine long enough to fly them back to the explosion site and drop off them and Selphie along with the necessary equipment, then took to the air again to do sweeps.

"We're set," Seifer sent an hour later.

"Us too!" Selphie chirped.

Squall nodded to himself. "Good. Go ahead and blow it. As soon as Fujin sees anything headed our way—hopefully G-Garden—meet back up here at the trap."

"One humungous explosion coming right up!"

. . .

"Galbadia Garden approaches," came Fujin's voice. It was the most he had ever heard her say in one shot.

"Acknowledged."

"On our way," Irvine sent.

Looking back toward the prison Squall could see the smoke and flames stretch quite a distance, obscuring any thought of even trying to see the prison properly. His own position was somewhat obscured as the light breeze which had sprung up kept pushing smoke his way, but he could see well enough to the north. "As soon as they get within a mile I want you to land, Fujin. We can take cover on the prison side of the ship and let the OCS keep us from being spotted."

"Affirmative."

After the explosion group caught up and the canisters of knockout gas had been set off to saturate the air—the generators in this area had been camouflaged by the simple expedient of uprooting scrubby bushes and temporarily replanting them as cover—they waited in tense silence. Selphie was holding Irvine's hand so tight the poor guy was making hideous faces of pain, but he never said a word or tried to shake her off. Squall just shook his head in amusement and stretched out on the ground so he could spy around the edge of the ship and watch as Garden approached. So far it was sticking to the road.

'Huh, it actually worked,' he thought a short time later. 'Excellent.'

Galbadia Garden had entered the zone and sputtered to a stop, crashing into the ground and listing slightly to one side. The generators kept pumping gas, and when there was absolutely no sign of any life after ten minutes Squall scooted back and got to his knees. "Ready?"

Tranq-guns were pulled out as his team gave the signal for a go. Squall pushed up and signaled to Irvine to lead the way. Any 'resident' who even looked like they twitched got shot with a dart as they swept the now mobile platform of war. Irvine led them to the most likely place first: Martine's office. Martine was not there, but Edea was, slumped over the headmaster's desk. They fanned out, checking the several people dressed in student uniforms sprawled on the floor, then converged on the sorceress.

She was trussed up with Odine's work and shot with a dart just to be on the safe side. Raijin slung her over his shoulder and gave a thumb's up. But in the lift Irvine gave Squall a tap on the shoulder and sent, "I know where the suits are—the flyers. Think we should destroy them before we leave?"

Squall considered quickly, then asked, "How difficult is it to get at them?"

"Not very. Ground floor hanger next to the parking lot. We could be in and out of there in ten minutes if Selphie has some leftover explosives we can use."

He didn't bother to ask why this had not come up earlier. Everyone forgot details at one point or another, and he hadn't remembered them, either. "Sounds good. Any objections?" Just before the door slid open he sent, "Irvine, what about any of your belongings here?"

"Nah. Didn't leave much, and it's probably all locked in a storage room by now anyway."

"All right. Let's blow those flyers, then."

Twenty minutes later they were back at the ship—or rather, Raijin was, to drop off Edea to repose under the watchful eye of Fujin. Then he joined the others in disconnecting and gathering up the device components and running them to ship storage. Fujin hopped them farther south so they could pick up the generators at both the road and prison—and drop off the captive—then Selphie reclaimed command of the ship and flew them at top speed back toward Esthar.

Squall pulled off his mask with relief and leaned back against the wall. "The sooner she's sealed the better. Everyone, you did really well. Excellent teamwork."

They took turns keeping an eagle eye on Edea. When they did arrive at the memorial a message was sent to the palace, and the response told them Laguna and the others were already en route. Edea, still out cold, was placed in the unit and sealed. It was then that Selphie went a little nuts and grabbed Irvine to dance him around the room, and he was obviously happy enough since he removed his hat and plunked it on her head.

. . .

She woke up furious. The sorceress dragged herself up off the floor and looked around; those who had been with her were still unconscious, and she knew it was due to her powers that she woke up sooner. She cursed due to her balance being off as she made her way into the private room behind the office, and came to a stop in front of a mirror. 'This will never do. I look so plebeian now, so . . . human.' The next space of time was spent twisting the features and figure of the student she had jumped to when it became apparent something was wrong about the situation they had been about to enter.

'Fools. I give them credit, however, for a clever plan. I shall enjoy their deaths and the chains of history will be broken forevermore.' Then she noticed her clothing again and scowled. More of her powers were employed to correct the problem and by then she could hear her people stirring in the office. She exited to begin giving orders. And there were some people she needed to find and interrogate—and absorb.

. . .

Back in Laguna's office they took seats at the table and gladly partook of the refreshments brought in by an aide. Seifer was having a grand time telling the tale (even though Ellone kept giving him sad looks) when something on the desk started beeping. It wasn't the same sound from the other day, though, and this time it was Kiros who rose to deal with it.

"Kiros here. Yes. Did it? Bring it here, I want to deal with it personally." He hung up and returned to his seat, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. "There is an unexpected and unknown group of three sniffing around at the Great Salt Lake. One female, two males. I've ordered the drone be brought here so we can examine the data. While I'm not expecting any of you to recognize these people, it is possible that you may."

Irvine took up the tale from there and was just finishing when a knock sounded at the door. A woman entered long enough to relinquish a drone to Kiros, then left. Kiros tapped a spot on the table near him and attached the cable that appeared to the drone, then tapped out some commands on the 'keyboard' which had lit up. Pictures started appearing on the table's surface.

Squall took one look and groaned.

"Well, shit," Seifer said disgustedly.

Laguna shot them a wide-eyed look. "What?"

Squall was busy trying not to tear his hair out and was glad when Selphie spoke up to say, "They're our ex-clients, the Timber Forest Owls. Rinoa, Zone, and Watts. Rinoa is the daughter of General Caraway in Deling."

"Well what the devil are _they_ doing here?" Irvine wanted to know.

"I think we need a little clarification," Kiros said. "Ex-clients?"

Squall smoothed his hair and said, "When we made SeeD we were sent on a mission to Timber. The Forest Owls hired SeeD to help with their plans to effect Timber's freedom from Galbadian occupation and rule. Then Vinzer Deling was assassinated and she ordered us to take her to safety. She didn't seem at all concerned about the two men. We escaped Timber and went to Galbadia Garden, where we got diverted to the Edea issue."

"I hate to say it," Irvine said slowly, "but we should probably interrogate them to see why they ended up there, or at least her. I have a hard time believing it could be sheer coincidence."

"I don't like it," Squall said, "but I think you're right. Opinions?"

After a few minutes of discussion they were agreed. A ship would be sent out to pick them up and take them to the nearest thing resembling a police station.

. . .

"We haven't done anything wrong!" Rinoa was protesting as she was hauled into the interrogation room. "You can't treat me like this!"

"Lady," the soldier replied, "you were trespassing. Now sit down before I cuff your arms and legs to the chair." He left as soon as she complied, and locked the door behind him with an ominous click.

Squall smirked and scooted his chair a little closer to the OCS window. Similar to how it worked in the ship they were looking through glass, but all anyone in the interrogation room could see was a bland grey wall. Much better than viewing a video feed or the classic version of a one-way mirrored window in all those movies. They watched for the next half hour as Rinoa became increasingly more upset and whiny about the lack of décor, lack of amenities, the violation of her personal rights, how cold it was, and so on, until Kiros left to go question her.

A minute or so later the lock clicked again, the door opened, and Kiros strode in with a soldier. The soldier stood guard at the door, gun visible, and Kiros sat down across from Rinoa.

"Well it's about time!" she complained. "I demand to know what's going on! You people have no right to do this to me! I'm an important person, you know. Things could get ugly if my father finds out."

Kiros arched a brow at her. "So you did not let this father of yours know where you were trying to infiltrate? How interesting."

"I wasn't trying to infiltrate anything! I was looking for someone."

"We have it on good authority that you are part of an insurgence movement. Then we find you circling our borders. Are we supposed to believe this was all innocent on your part? That you are not here to stir up rebellion?"

Seifer started laughing. "Wow, Kiros has quite a sense of humor."

"I'm doing nothing of the sort," she said sulkily. "I came here to find some people, that's all. I'd hired them to do a job, but they left without word. I got information saying they came this way, so I was trying to follow."

"I see."

"And how do you know that, anyway? Spying on people? Or are—that's it, isn't it? They're here. I want to see them!"

Kiros eyed her blandly. "You are in no position to demand anything. Now, explain the circumstances of your departure from Deling City and how that led you to our border."

"Oh, and if I say no you bring on the torture?"

Kiros simply waited in silence, pulling a bottle of water out of his pocket and taking a sip.

"She's an awfully pushy one," Laguna commented.

Squall glanced over and noticed that his father's brow was furrowed. "I imagine it has to do with her upbringing," he replied.

"Yeah," Seifer confirmed. "From what she's told me she was spoiled growing up, but never expected to be anything more than pretty. She ran away to join the resistance in Timber, mostly to spite her father and prove she could make a difference. Sadly, the people in Timber talk a lot and never seem to get anywhere."

Laguna got a puzzled look on his face. "Wait, is she Julia's daughter? I vaguely remember when Kiros came to Winhill that she'd married Caraway."

"Yep," Seifer replied. "She uses her mother's last name to disassociate herself. Her mother died in a car crash when Rinoa was five."

"Oh. That's too bad. Julia was a very nice woman."

Rinoa finally couldn't stand the silence. "Fine! I thought up a plan in Deling and went to visit the sorceress. It was really hard getting in there, too. I had an Odine bangle with me to give to her as a gift, thinking she wouldn't know what it was and would wear it, so her powers would be cut off. She somehow knew and put me into some kind of a daze. The next thing I knew I was being attacked by some horrible creatures, but I was rescued by a Garden team there to assassinate her. When they left they took me with them. Once we were in the open again I ran."

Kiros had another sip of water when she said nothing more for too long.

"I wonder where she got one of those from?" Laguna mused. "I suppose someone might have smuggled one out."

"So she hatched another asinine plan and botched it, and had to be rescued," Squall commented.

Rinoa finally spoke up again, looking a bit unnerved by the silent treatment. "I found out after they rescued me that four team members had resigned, two of them from the team I had contracted. I was really upset that they just up and quit on me. And if that wasn't bad enough the contract said no replacements. So I rented a car and headed to Timber, snuck in, and got on a train to Balamb so I could complain to the guy who wrote the contract.

"When I got there things were completely crazy and I couldn't find him, so I hung out in the cafeteria waiting for things to calm down. Everyone was too worked up to really notice me so no one said anything. All of a sudden the whole building jolted and people started panicking, so I raced out with the crowd to see what was going on. Garden was moving and we were about to crash into the ocean. Just before we hit some weird barrier sprang up and stopped us all from drowning.

"Anyway, I finally got to talk to Headmaster Cid and he told me that it was unfortunate, but there was nothing he could do. He said it wasn't like he could force people not to quit or to come back when they didn't want to. He called someone in and had them assign me a room temporarily. Later on we crashed into Fisherman's Horizon and I was told I needed to leave, and they escorted me into town and just left me there! I had some money so I got a hotel room and started asking questions about the place.

"Not long after Garden left a strange ship showed up and their people started asking questions around town. They also dropped off Zone and Watts, who had escaped from Timber into the water and got fished out of the ocean by them. So that's how we met up again. I eventually found out that someone matching the description of the person I was looking for had been there and his group was asking questions about Esthar. That's when I decided to try to follow. I'm not here to cause any trouble. I just want to give him a piece of my mind. His name is Squall."

"What little mind you have," Squall muttered.

Kiros got up and headed for the door.

"Are you going to get him?" she called.

Kiros ignored her and exited, the soldier following, and the door was closed and locked again. A minute later Kiros was back in with them and Rinoa had adopted an impatient expression. "Do you wish to speak with her directly?"

Squall hesitated and looked over at the window. A part of him was actually curious to see what she would say. "Sure, why not."

Seifer leaned over and asked, "Can I tag along?"

Squall nodded, then looked at Selphie. She shook her head. "We should probably wait a short time so she doesn't realize we were right here all this time." That being said they started talking again, keeping an eye on Rinoa through the window.

"You notice she said quit on _her_," Irvine pointed out. "They probably didn't give her any details. I certainly didn't. I just gave her the room keys and hightailed it out of there."

"We did shatter any generally accepted social customs when we neglected to tell her that ourselves," Squall said. "In that respect we are at fault. It would be correct for me to apologize, even if I'm not the least bit sorry we're no longer working for her."

"But you don't want to," Seifer said knowingly.

"Of course I don't," he said with a laugh. "But it's the right thing to do. I really wonder why Cid sent me, of all people, to a group like that."

"Maybe he was hoping you could give them a hard dose of reality?" Selphie suggested. "I mean, c'mon. Anyone with half a brain has to know it's not that simple. Did she really think three mercenaries could overthrow Galbadia? Because that's what it would amount to. Even now with the sorceress sealed, the military over there is still probably gearing up to take more territory. From what Ellone said it wasn't all that long ago that Edea left the white SeeD ship. She went there and found a country ripe to exploit because they already wanted world domination, so it was probably that much easier to bend them to her will. So maybe Cid was hoping that your, um, cynical outlook on life would make a dent in the fantasy land she's been living in. _Maybe_ I could do that, too, but I'm not a _real_ leader like you are, Squall. Nida? Pfft. He was nice enough, but he would have just caved."

Squall felt unaccountably like blushing and had to look away for a second. He did blush when she very sincerely said, "It's a good leader, a real one, who brings out the best qualities in his team."

"Thanks," he muttered.

She grinned and said, "So are we taking bets on how she's gonna react? I got 50 on her blaming Seifer for turning Squall against her."

"That's not very nice," Ellone said, startling Squall—she had been so quiet he had forgotten she was even there. "I bet 50 she gives one of them a lovesick look."

. . .

Kiros escorted them down the hall and around a corner to a door with guards on either side. "One of you go in with them," Kiros said. "I'll wait here."

The left guard saluted and unlocked the door, then opened it and gestured. Squall entered with Seifer and stopped a few feet from Rinoa, shifting so his weight was on one leg. Neither he nor Seifer said a word. He rather thought she was giving them the weirdest look he had seen in a long time, pathetic and angry and dopey all rolled into one.

"Why did you leave me?" she asked. "We had a contract! You were supposed to follow my orders, not just stuff me in a hotel room and take off!"

One brow made a slow ascent before Squall said, "You had a contract with _Balamb Garden_ for three SeeDs, Renée. You did not—"

"My name is Rinoa!"

"Whatever. You did not have a contract specifically with me, nor did said contract anywhere state that I would become your indentured servant for life. In fact, I distinctly recall the section which stated you would not be able to request replacements should something happen to one or more of the SeeDs who were sent. That aside, it was not against any law or rule of Garden for me to resign. You knew perfectly well we had been commandeered into another mission of much higher priority, after which the team would return to working with you, and the only reason we were selected for that is because you told us to get you out of town.

"_You_ stuffed _yourself_ in a hotel room in a childish snit when we refused to share classified information with you. Next, we did not resign because of you, so don't imply that we did. However, having resigned for reasons unrelated to you, that did actually mean we were free to follow our own wishes. I find it disturbing in the extreme that you would follow us here rather than return to Timber and take up your cause again, though I suppose I can understand getting a meeting with Cid about the contract. I do hope he gave you a refund."

She stared at him for a good thirty seconds before rounding on Seifer. "You did this! Things were perfectly fine until you showed up! Then you two are all whispering to each other and ignoring me."

Seifer chuckled and draped an arm around Squall's shoulders. "Of course we spent a lot of time together, princess. People in a relationship do that kind of thing."

"What? But I thought—no, don't be ridiculous!"

"If you recall," Squall said, "things were not 'perfectly fine' before Seifer arrived. We had words to that effect near the television station and you ran off because I pointed out that your group had poor planning and intelligence gathering skills, and dared to call you on the fact that you insulted all of us. It is obvious that we've been learning out of different dictionaries if that is your idea of 'perfectly fine'."

"I don't believe this!" she shrieked. "We had a contract and I expect you to honor it!"

"The key word being 'had'," Seifer pointed out.

"Oh, shut _up_! You weren't even part of the team!"

"And that somehow makes his observation less relevant?" Squall said.

Seifer slid his arm off Squall's shoulders and scoffed at her. "Oh, come off it, Reena, you—"

"My—name—is—Rinoa!"

"Whatever. I'm not blind in the least, though you obviously are. Stop living in a god damn fantasy world where you're a hero for rebelling against daddy and running off to join his enemies, or where you think you have the first clue how to lead anyone except into a wall."

"You were the one who came running to help me!" she shrieked.

"No. I came to help my fellow SeeDs, knowing just what you were like," he replied with a sneer. "And the first thing you _did_ prove to them was that your people are incompetent!"

"Stop." And they did, both looking to him. "This is getting nowhere, and the only thing left to say is this: You have my apology for not personally letting you know that we had resigned as SeeDs and would therefore no longer be able to assist the Forest Owls." He turned and headed for the exit.

"You can't just leave! I'm not done talking to you!"

He ignored her and kept going, and moments later he was outside, Seifer was with him, and the guard was locking the door.

"Aw, why'd you have to ruin my fun," Seifer drawled. "I was just working up to an excellent rant."

"Honestly?" he said, gazing at Seifer. "I was developing a headache from the sound of her voice."

They found out later that while she and her comrades were being escorted to the airstation that she had managed to get the drop on the guards with the help of Zone and Watts and had escaped custody.


	9. Nine

**Written**: 14-16 June 2011

**Notes**: Seduction and sex ahoy! Funny how I don't normally do this, but something about these two... Man, I just can't help myself. They won't let me do anything else until this happens. *frets, worry hands* I hope you enjoy.

* * *

On the way back to the palace Kiros thought to mention that the order had gone up for Adel's Tomb to be given a push into deep space while they were on their mission.

"Excellent news. It's just a question now of managing to do the same for Edea, loathe as I am to even contemplate that for a woman I once knew and loved as a mother," he said sadly.

"Orders have already been given to begin building another ship of that class," Kiros replied, "and to create another tomb. I have yet to run across a sorceress in my readings which showed one who just snapped back out of it after going insane."

Squall nodded and was silent for the remainder of the ride, trying to resolve his feelings on the matter. It was an easy enough thing to suggest or even order it when the person in question wasn't a former loved one, but now. . . ?

Ellone broke away from Laguna and tagged along with Squall to the communal area in their wing. She gave him a hug once they arrived and said, "I bet I know what you're thinking."

"You probably do. But I'd rather not talk about that just yet."

She nodded, her expression deeply sad, then brightened up and said, "Oh. So you _don't_ want to know what I was trying to accomplish?"

He gave her a faint smile for changing the subject so adroitly. "Of course I do. And I plan to hold you captive until you confess."

Ellone dimpled at him. "Oh, well, since I'm terribly frightened of you and your evil minions, I shall just have to tell, won't I."

As it turned out she was attempting to change the past by connecting with Squall's consciousness and seeing if things could change. "I just wanted to get Uncle Laguna to go back sooner, so we could have all stayed together."

"But how would you do that? I mean, if you have a reason _now_ to change the past, and you make the change in the past, you'd be a different person because whatever it was that made you want a change would never have happened and you wouldn't have a reason to change it in the first place, so you'd never have gone back to change the past, which means it never happened and nothing changed," Selphie said. "The only way it could even potentially work is if a person went back bodily and changed something they had no knowledge of, but created a situation they did have knowledge of, just not how it came about, so that when they returned it would seem like nothing changed, but in reality it would have."

Ellone's eyes crossed as she tried to work that out, but eventually she nodded. "Well, I'm glad none of you were hurt because of it. We're together again and happy, so I can't ask for more than that."

"What about how more than just Squall kept getting pulled in?" Seifer asked. "Some sort of proximity effect? Limited to three people because your power can't handle more than that?"

Ellone shrugged. "I guess so. I can only make it work for people I actually know and have spent some time around. I couldn't send someone random back, nor could I send someone I know back to someone I didn't. And I can't send myself, except as a side effect of connecting to who I do send. I could see what happened in those visions because I was connected to Squall. I think Uncle Laguna might have been partially aware of what was happening, but maybe only because Squall is his son."

That more or less closed that matter and Ellone promised not to do it again without permission. Irvine rounded up a card game and soon the group (admittedly, minus Raijin and Fujin, who were doing who knew what) was playing. Seifer bowed out after a while to spend time with his posse, and Irvine and Selphie eventually drifted away, leaving just Squall and Ellone, who spoke quietly with each other for another hour before she called it a night.

Squall wandered back to his room and slumped on the couch. 'Well, it is kind of late. And I forgot to have dinner.' He got back up and fashioned a sandwich to eat, then cleaned his gunblade, took a shower, and slept.

The next morning he was whisked away by Laguna for some bonding time. For some reason, this involved painting. Or rather, Laguna painting his portrait while they talked—and if all the artwork in the room was anything to go by his father was quite the artist—though for the moment he was just using a pencil to sketch out the basics on the canvas. "Will you tell me about yourself?"

Squall shrugged. "There's honestly not that much to tell. After the orphanage I went to Balamb Garden. I did my best as a student, worked hard to master my gunblade, and eventually became a SeeD."

Laguna leaned sideways slightly and squinted at him, then shifted back and said, "So no real friends?"

"Not unless you count the cafeteria ladies, no. I was driven. I didn't like to waste time on things I thought were unimportant."

"I think you got that from Raine. Oh, she was social enough, but she knew what she wanted and worked for it. I had kind of a hard time becoming friends with her, though. I know she would have been proud of you. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," he muttered.

"But it's different now, right? You seem to be fairly close with your team."

He considered that and had to shake his head. "Not exactly. I trust them. I know they won't let me down, and the odds of them behaving in ways I have trouble tolerating is next to nil. I enjoy their company and I suppose you can say we're all friends, but I'm not sure I'd call it close. But it's only been that way since recently, so I don't know what will happen along the way."

"I think it's pretty clear that they trust you, too," Laguna replied. "And respect you. I think it's an excellent start. I'm different, of course. I'll make friends with just about anyone." His face appeared briefly around the side of the canvas, sporting a goofy smile.

"Sis clearly adored you."

Laguna laughed. "And I adored her. Still do. It's funny, though. After Raine and I married I had hoped to give her a sibling, even though I never really thought of her as my daughter. Maybe because she always called me uncle. And I did, I just never realized it. I wish—"

"I do, too," he interrupted, "but the past is the past. At least I got to see some of it. I know what my mother was like, even if only briefly, and you and I are sitting right here now. I don't really know how to be a son, and I can be pretty cranky, but. . . ."

His father started chortling madly. "Maybe I should unleash you on some of the idiots in this government. As an example, they complain that the soldiers rely too much on the enhanced suits they wear as battle gear and are neglecting their personal strength and skills. So what do they lobby for? Robot soldiers!"

Squall snorted and rubbed his chin. "Well, if I run across one of them I'll be sure to share my thoughts on that," he said dryly. "Did—did you ever fall in love again?"

"No, Raine was it for me. I've yet to meet another woman who could compare to your mother. But I have excellent friends, an interesting job, and I'm okay. I mean, you know I spent some time with Julia before that, but looking back on it I think I just wanted the company of a pretty, talented lady, someone I could talk to who didn't already know everything about me. If I were to meet someone in the future she'd have a lot to live up to, but I'd like to believe Raine would want me to be happy. What about you? You seem very close to Seifer."

He tensed slightly, hoping that wasn't going to become an issue. "We're dating."

"Hm. I'll have to get grand-babies from Ellone, then," Laguna said, then peeked around the canvas long enough to flash him another smile.

'Okay,' he thought, relaxing again, 'Not a negative response.' "We used to clash a lot at Garden, but I think that's because I didn't remember exactly who he was for so long. He did. He was always there, and he ended up becoming my sparring partner since he uses a gunblade, too."

"So what changed?" Laguna stepped into view so he could see both Squall and the canvas easily at the same time, his eyes flickering back and forth between them, then disappeared again.

He furrowed his brow. "Not to avoid the question, but you seem . . . much less, er, excitable right now."

"I'm always calmer when I sketch or paint. It helps me to think more clearly, too."

Squall nodded. "Hn. The last spar Seifer and I had at Garden, well, I was losing that time and I didn't like that. So I found an opportune moment and kissed him to throw him off his game. It worked. He kept giving me funny looks after that and I thought it was interesting and amusing." He went on to explain about the SeeD exam and a few of their other conversations and smiled when his father started chortling again part way through. "So we're dating now."

"Well it doesn't seem to be having any negative effects on your team or the missions you do, so I don't see any problem with it from an employer viewpoint, and as a father I have none at all unless he suddenly goes nutty one day or becomes abusive. You're old enough to know your own mind, and while I'm probably not the best person to speak with when it comes to relationship advice, I'll do my best if you want to talk to me about it at some point for whatever reason."

"Thanks."

"Hm. Come over here for a minute and tell me what you think so far."

They spent the better part of the day simply talking while Laguna moved on to his paints and brushes, and Squall returned to the team's wing feeling—content.

. . .

Ultimecia smiled as she surveyed her new toy. Her hunting had been fruitful in more ways than one. Not only was she now in command of Lunatic Pandora, but she had tracked down, almost accidentally, a woman who knew exactly what had happened to Adel. After taking part in the resistance the woman had left and moved to Fisherman's Horizon with others who were tired of living in a country where the potential for violence was never ruled out, but had later become dissatisfied with the town she helped build. Along the way she had been granted the powers of an elderly minor sorceress and had settled quietly, never once letting anyone know what she was. The woman didn't deserve those powers! And now she had neither powers nor life, as it should be. And all that because history was written by the winners, and they had chosen to give only the barest of details. Ultimecia turned her gaze on her 'knight' and ordered, "Proceed to Esthar along the route I specified."

. . .

He was just about to open his door when the one behind him opened. Squall turned and was caught at the wrist by Seifer and pulled inside the blond's suite. The next thing he knew he was backed up against the closed door and Seifer was kissing him. When Seifer finally pulled away Squall said, "Wow. What was that for?"

"I haven't seen you all day and I needed a fix," Seifer replied with a grin. "Did things go well with Laguna?" he asked, drawing Squall away from the door and over to the dining table.

"It went very well, I think. He's quite a talented artist. What are you doing?" he asked as Seifer guided him over to a chair and gently pushed him into it.

"What do you think?" Seifer wandered into the kitchen area and brought back a tray with a selection of cold dishes on it. "I can't cook that well, and this isn't much," he admitted, "but I wanted to feed you for a change."

Squall eyed what Seifer was unloading and nodded. A somewhat hearty salad with several cruets filled with different dressings, ham slices with pineapple sauce, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. No, it wasn't much, but that Seifer had gone to the trouble to reciprocate made him smile warmly at the blond. "Thank you." He felt rather charmed, actually, and told Seifer about his visit with Laguna as they ate. Talk turned to what they might be doing next after they had removed to the couch, and Squall was becoming more and more turned on by the idle, seemingly absentminded wanderings of Seifer's fingers. He finally reached up to wrap a hand around Seifer's neck and pull him in for a kiss, which quickly turned into a heavy make-out session.

He had just begun to try to remove Seifer's shirt when the blond grabbed his wrists and said, "There's something specific I'd like to do."

Squall eyed him a bit doubtfully.

"I promise, no bondage," Seifer assured him, answering the unspoken question. "Even though I am still fantasizing about that."

Squall nodded slowly. Hell, he was still fantasizing about that, but he just hadn't quite stepped over the line to being willing to act any of it out yet. "And just what is it you want to do?"

Seifer stood up, pulling Squall with him, and started undressing. Squall also began to undress, but when he went to remove his boxer-briefs hands grabbed his wrists and Seifer shook his head. "No, keep those on for now. You'll see." A very naked Seifer drew Squall around to the other side of the couch and had him face it, then slowly, gently bent Squall over so the upper part of his chest and his shoulders were resting on the top edge of the couch and his legs had been spread apart. "Just wait here a minute. There's a couple of things I need to get." The second Squall stiffened slightly Seifer hastened to add, "On my honor, Squall, no bondage. And if at any time you say stop, we stop, okay?"

Squall nodded and brought his arms up so that he was treating the sofa almost like a steeply angled pillow and waited a touch nervously.

Seifer was back within a few minutes carrying a small tray table with him. Squall couldn't see properly what was on it due to a cloth draped over the top; it only made him more nervous, despite trusting that Seifer wasn't about to go back on his word. The table was placed somewhere behind him and he heard a soft sound which was probably the cloth being removed. He jumped slightly when he felt a hand slide down his back and pat his ass.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Squall," Seifer said huskily. "I'll take care of you."

Strong hands started massaging his neck and upper back, and Squall began to relax, despite the odd position he was in. Those wonderful hands slowly worked downward to his waist, Seifer's thumbs occasionally dipping teasingly beneath the waistband of his briefs, then those same hands skimmed down his hips and thighs only to return up the back. Seifer's thumbs kept sliding under the hem as his thighs were worked, not only the backs but the sides and fronts, and the slow teasing was killing him. Squall found himself wriggling his hips to express his impatience. One of the hands left his skin and suddenly his ass had been playfully slapped.

"Now, Squall, let's not get ahead of ourselves. You just let me take care of you, all right?"

Seifer went back to the slow massage, his thumbs and fingers rising ever higher under his briefs and teasing him dreadfully. Those fingers never quite reached his erection, nor did they reach his anus, but he was aching for it to happen and simply could not stop his hips from moving. His ass was slapped again, this time a little harder, and it only made him more aroused.

"Do you want these off? Is that it?" Seifer asked huskily. "Tell me, Squall."

"Yes," he breathed.

"Yes?" Seifer said silkily.

"Please."

"Now that's not the way to do it," Seifer teased. "_Tell me_, Squall."

"Take them off me!" he growled.

"That's right, a nice commanding tone," Seifer said with satisfaction evident in his voice.

Hands skimmed back up his flanks and his briefs were worked part way down his hips. Then the hands disappeared and something cold and metallic was grazing his skin. "I really don't want you to move from that position," he was told. "I'll just get them off another way. It's not like you don't have plenty more."

Squall couldn't bring himself to care when he heard the distinct sound of fabric being cut and felt the cold metal slide up the back of his thighs and along his ass for each leg. The fabric was quickly stripped away and those glorious hands were back gliding over his skin. They swept over and massaged his ass, then disappeared, and he heard the sound of a plastic cap being snapped open. Oil was drizzled on his tailbone and allowed to trickle down over his anus, and then those hands were massaging his ass again.

He moaned and shifted when Seifer's thumbs started moving in circles, getting ever closer to his anus. His mind flashed back to the last time they had fooled around and Seifer had finger fucked him. Seifer slapped him again after he jerked his hips back, then resumed his slow teasing. Those thumbs eventually—finally!—started pressing against his anus, rubbing in circles, spreading him, and making him want to scream in frustrated anticipation. He moaned again with relief when both pushed in and began to move in half circles, pressing outward.

"It feels good, doesn't it," Seifer purred, manipulating the tight ring of muscle a little more forcefully.

"Oh, god," he practically sobbed, thrusting back mindlessly.

He was slapped again and more oil was drizzled before the torturous pleasure continued. It felt like he was being opened wider than was humanly possible, those strong thumbs forcing the muscle to relax and pushing deeper at the same time.

"Oh, god," he repeated. "More."

"More?" Seifer drawled. "I have a little something. . . . _Tell me_."

"Whatever! Yes! Give me more!"

"As you command, Squall," Seifer purred as his hands moved away. "I would never say no to you."

Seconds later he felt more oil, then something soft yet firm nudging him, sliding up and down over his anus, then just barely pushing inward. He thrust back again, got slapped for it, and whatever it was—he knew it wasn't Seifer's cock—was pushed in deeper, making him groan loudly. One hand returned to massaging his ass, pulling his left cheek outward as that thing slowly impaled him. His mind finally managed to make the connection and he realized it was some kind of sex toy, a dildo, making his sphincter relax even more as Seifer fucked him with it and angled it around.

He was so hard and so aroused he thought he might come without his cock ever being touched, especially when Seifer started saying such dirty things, and he was having trouble getting enough air.

"You look so beautiful, Squall, spread open for me like this, begging with your hips. Do you like being slapped like this every time you do?" Seifer purred, slapping him yet again. "Being punished for misbehaving? Sobbing in pleasure as I violate your ass and make you beg for more? Do you like that? Do you like to hear those words? Shall I violate you harder, Squall? Look at you shamelessly begging for it. So delicious. So wanton. So desperate for it."

Squall's whole body stiffened as his balls drew in closer to his body, his head came up, and his cock began to pulse as devastating pleasure ripped through him, ejaculating semen all over the back side of the couch. "Seifer," he moaned. He vaguely registered that Seifer had stepped back the pace a little after a minute, but did not stop. No, the dildo in his ass kept stretching him, fucking him, and in no time at all he could feel his cock hardening again.

"Ngh," came from behind him. "You're so beautiful, Squall. I could do this all day if you'd let me. I'll even let you do it to me later if you want." Seifer hummed. "You're trembling, Squall. Do you want more? More of me violating your ass? Making you beg for it? Can you handle it? Tell me, Squall. What do you want?"

He honestly thought he was losing his mind. "Seifer," he gasped.

"Yes, Squall?" Seifer gave an extra angled twist to the dildo as he thrust it in again.

"Oh, god. Seifer." A spell of dizziness came over him and he knew he was starting to hyperventilate, so he tried to slow down his breathing. "Seifer."

"Tell me, Squall."

"God, Seifer, _please_!" he begged, barely registering when his ass was slapped repeatedly because of the way he was moving his hips.

"Your body keeps begging shamelessly, Squall, but I don't hear the right words coming from those gorgeous lips of yours. _Tell_—_me_!" Seifer growled, slapping him again.

"Nnnngh! I want you to fuck me!"

The next moment he felt an arm wrap around his waist and lift him bodily up and against Seifer. The dildo in his ass slipped out somewhat as Seifer grabbed the bottle of oil, and he was carried into the bedroom and unceremoniously tossed onto his back on the bed. Seifer stood there staring down at him, expression fierce. "Last chance to change your mind, Squall," he warned.

"Fuck me!" he snarled. "Now!"

The look he was given should have set the sheets aflame. Seifer poured oil into his hand, snapped the cap shut and tossed the bottle aside, then slicked up his erection before kneeling on the bed between Squall's thighs. The dildo was swiftly removed and flung over one shoulder, making Squall moan at the loss and how loose he felt, then Seifer slid a hand under his ass and raised his hips up off the bed, the other used to position his cock before moving to support him further.

Squall's head pushed back against the mattress as the head of Seifer's cock forced its way in slowly. Even with how much preparation he had been given he still felt some measure of pain and winced, but ignored it. "C'mon," he growled. "Fuck me!"

Seifer slammed into him without further ado, wresting a strangled moan from Squall's throat, then pulled back and thrust again. "Yeah?"

"Yeeesss," he hissed.

Seifer lowered Squall's ass to the bed and repositioned his legs, leaning over and using his longer body to his advantage. Arms came down to either side of him and Seifer began thrusting almost roughly as his head dipped down to savage Squall's mouth. He pulled back slightly to whisper, "That's right, Squall, feed me those moans, spur me on," then captured his mouth again.

Even though they were closed Squall's eyes rolled back. There was just enough of Seifer's body brushing his cock that he stiffened up again a couple of minutes later and let loose, splattering himself and Seifer with more of his semen, sexual instinct making his hips snap in rhythm.

"I can't hold it back any more, not with the way you've been teasing me, Squall," Seifer muttered, then started slamming into him, roaring less than a minute later.

Squall tried desperately to catch his breath and finally just gave up, falling into unconsciousness from sheer overload.

. . .

Seifer exhaled heavily and slowly pulled away, then realized his beautiful lover had passed out on him some time in the last couple of minutes. He just couldn't help the huge, ridiculously smug grin that twisted his lips. He very carefully extricated himself and got to his feet, then stumbled into the bathroom to clean himself up with a damp washcloth.

He grabbed another one and ran it under the warm water, then returned to gently take care of Squall's unconscious body. It was no trouble at all to get the cover out from underneath and pushed onto the floor, nor to get Squall under the top sheet. He slipped back onto the bed and pulled the brunette up against him, then drifted off to sleep.

. . .

He woke up feeling deliciously relaxed, though in a bit of pain and still very tired, with arms wrapped around him and Seifer nuzzling his hair. His eyes opened lazily and he squirmed with need; his bladder was quite insistent that it would not wait much longer. Seifer's arms tightened around him when he tried to get up and he was forced to kick him with a heel until Seifer complained drowsily and released him. Squall returned a few minutes later, wincing occasionally, and crawled back under the sheet. Seifer latched onto him again and pulled him close, kissing his forehead.

"You're amazing," Seifer murmured sleepily, pushing a knee between Squall's thighs and kissing him again. "Beautiful. Never let you go, Squall. Perfect," he mumbled.

Squall let out a faint, amused snort as Seifer drifted off to sleep again. Then he joined him.

. . .

Two days later, as they were just finishing up breakfast, the phone rang. Squall furrowed his brow and went to get it. "Leonhart."

"Squall, good. Listen, we have a little emergency on the horizon," came Laguna's voice. "Get everyone and come to my office as soon as you can."

"On it," he said and hung up, then repeated things to Seifer.

Twenty minutes later they were gathered around the conference table, and Kiros was pulling images from a drone and arraying them on the table surface.

"What the hell is that thing?" Irvine asked.

"Lunatic Pandora," Laguna said with uncharacteristic grimness. "You only really saw the insides before."

"Technically," Kiros said, "that name encompasses the sum of the casing you see and the crystal pillar you saw in the vision. What we do know is that it allegedly fell from the moon eighty years ago during the Lunar Cry which forced the remaining people at Centra to evacuate. The pillar was brought to Esthar, as you know, and Odine created the casing to surround it. It was used at one point in a test of its powers and triggered another Lunar Cry. After the war it was deemed too dangerous and we had it sunk in the ocean."

"And now it's been found," Selphie said quietly. "Those brochures—they said Tear's Point was the most likely place for a Lunar Cry to happen here in Esthar, so the facility was built to counteract and deflect use of Lunatic Pandora. Am I remembering right?"

"Yes," Kiros said.

"So Galbadia managed to find it and plans to use it against us?" Seifer mused. "If they pull it off it would cause a lot of devastation and severely impact our resources. Kind of hard to plow a field and harvest vegetables when huge monsters are roaming around busting things up."

"Well, technically—" Laguna stopped and shook his head. "Never mind."

"The data from this drone estimates at the current rate of speed that Lunatic Pandora will cross our southern border in approximately an hour."

"What do you want us to do?" Squall asked.

"Get geared up and take a ship to be on standby at a spot not far distant," Kiros replied. "Tears' Point should take care of it, but we should be ready. Unfortunately, we have no ships with offensive capabilities and the one being built is not yet complete. Now that Adel's Tomb is gone radio communication is viable again, so we would be able to communicate in real time without needing boosted equipment."

As he was saying that Laguna got up and went to the desk to pick up the phone and dial. "Yeah, it's me. Not sure if we'll need it, but bring the generators online and raise the city's shields. No, I'm not kidding. We have an incoming. I want this done immediately."

Kiros continued smoothly, "If Tears' Point is unable to prevent a Lunar Cry you would have a quick method of escape back to the city. I'm already sending down orders for drones to converge on that area, but there's a chance they could malfunction or be destroyed so close to Lunatic Pandora, and they are not equipped for wireless transmissions. Something that should also probably be corrected."

Laguna came back and rolled his eyes. "Ward, I don't think the boys are taking this seriously enough."

Ward had a flinty look in his eyes as he got up and jogged off to go take care of it.

"Let's get you set up with long range coms," Kiros said.


	10. Ten

**Written**: 16-17 June 2011

**Notes**: Once I realized how long this chapter was getting I decided, what the heck... it's going to at least chapter 11, so why not include an idea I had, but so far hadn't actually found room for.

* * *

She left Lunatic Pandora with two of her minions and warped them north to Lunar Gate. Inside she thralled everyone in her path and forced them to send her party up to Lunar Base. As soon as they were awake again she sauntered forward toward the exit of the boarding room, brutally smashing the man who came through the door to meet them into a wall and snapping his neck.

Part way down the corridor and after another few base workers had been murdered she noticed something wrong and stopped dead in her tracks, slowly turning her head to the side. Adel's Tomb was missing. Enraged, she screamed, and went on a rampage, killing everyone she could find before entering one of the escape pods with her minions and launching.

. . .

The com crackled and Kiros spoke. "We have an unscheduled launch from Lunar Base. A team is being sent out for recovery."

"Acknowledged," Squall sent back, wondering if they should be worried.

The next twenty minutes were tense ones. A second capsule had launched from the base, and not long after that Kiros reported a single man had been retrieved from the first, in a state of hysterics and unable to communicate effectively. Just as Kiros was letting them know that a team had arrived at the second capsule, Squall's eyes went wide on seeing Lunatic Pandora come to a stop over Tear's Point and begin to glow as it slowly sank downward, Tears' Point glowing in response. Even at their distance the sound of cracking stone could be heard and when lights began shooting skyward Squall quickly sent, "I think Tears' Point failed."

Muffled swearing came back across the com. "Piet has been tranquilized enough to speak. He reports that a woman who looked like renditions of past sorceresses stormed Lunar Base and started killing everyone. It looks like he was the only one to survive. The second launch must have been the intruder."

"Shit," Seifer muttered.

"Selphie, get us some distance," Squall ordered absently, trying to work out the implications. He started murmuring to himself, thinking out loud, still transmitting. "Edea was sealed. But we still have a sorceress on the loose. Our plan must have failed, not worked fast enough. The powers must have jumped, but why the base? Was she after Adel as well as Ellone? But why? It wouldn't even be the same person, just the powers."

"I think we need to get matron out of that seal," Irvine said. "She's still trussed up, and I think she needs to be questioned. There is something very, very wrong going down."

Selphie cried out and pointed. "Look! It's happening."

Squall snapped back into focus and glanced up through the transparent roof of the ship. Tears' Point had most certainly failed. "Get us to the memorial!"

Selphie had them there in minutes and stayed in the ship, ready to launch again the second they returned. Squall ran inside with Seifer and Irvine just in time to see the workers there release the seal. Kiros must have contacted them the moment he heard their plans. It was a quick hop back to the city and Selphie set them down on Laguna's private landing pad. By the time they were in his office Edea showed signs of waking.

"The fact you could even bring her here indicates that she is no longer a sorceress," Kiros commented thoughtfully. "Even with her powers subdued the city's shields should have repulsed your entrance with her on board."

"Do you think it's safe to unbind her, then?" Selphie asked as Seifer whirled around and kicked the wall a few times, cursing under his breath.

"She will be 'under the weather' for a while no matter what," Kiros replied. "With all of us here we should be all right."

Squall and Irvine moved in to release her from Odine's bizarre restraints, but stayed close and alert. She finally opened her eyes, blinking slowly, then focused on the faces closest to her. "Squall, Irvine. You've grown so much." Her gaze wandered by the older trio without recognition, then focused again moments later. "Selphie, Seifer." When she struggled to sit up Irvine assisted her and stepped back immediately, still tense. "I have waited for this day to come, and also feared it. Is today a joyous day? Or an odious one?" She looked around as if seeking someone. "Have I protected Ellone!" she cried desperately. "Is she still safe!"

A glance bounced around the room and Ward rushed out, presumably to hustle Ellone off to somewhere farther away. Squall thought sitting in a ship ready to launch might be good, or perhaps down in the fleet cavern. "Matron," he said slowly, "Ellone _is_ safe. _Why_ does she need to be safe?"

"Squall?" Edea took the glass of water Selphie had fetched and took a deep sip. "Thank you," she murmured. "I must seek out Dr Odine in Esthar. I have been freed from control, but it's urgent that my powers be suppressed."

"Matron," Seifer drawled, "I don't think you have them anymore. Why don't you try something simple and harmless. Something that won't cause us to all to skewer you out of reflex."

She turned a puzzled look his way and raised one hand, then brought it down against the arm of the sofa. As it struck she recoiled in surprise and the glass in her other hand slipped free and shattered on the floor. "I'm free?" she whispered. She got up with surprising grace and looked around, then glanced down and waved her hand. When nothing happened she sat back down heavily.

Squall asked again, "Why must Ellone be kept safe, matron?"

Edea looked up sharply. "Because Ultimecia has need of her powers."

"Who—?"

Odine barged in and scuttled over, eyeing Edea like a specimen in a lab jar, then whipped out a funny little device with dozens of blinking lights on it. He pressed something and waved it around in front of Edea, then hooted. "No powers! The woman, she is harmless!" he declared as he tucked the device away.

Everyone relaxed at that and began to take seats. Squall tried again. "Who is Ultimecia and why would she want Ellone?"

"Ellone!" Odine said. "The strange little girl I wished to study more." He sent an accusatory glance toward Laguna and Kiros.

Squall prayed for patience as he kept staring at Edea.

"Ultimecia is a sorceress from the future," she finally answered. "She has some way to send her consciousness and power back into the past to possess another sorceress. Some 'Junction Machine'."

Odine squeaked and immediately began examining his nails.

Squall glared over at the little man, then turned back to Edea and nodded. "Please continue."

"We're in Esthar?" she asked.

His eye started twitching at that point, but he settled when Laguna put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, leaned down, and whispered, "I think she's still a bit disoriented. Be gentle, okay?"

Squall nodded and signaled to Selphie, who nodded and said, "Yes, matron, we're in Esthar, in the city. Why would Ultimecia want Ellone, then, if she can already send herself back?"

Edea took a new glass of water, this time from Kiros, and said, "She wishes to go farther back in time. If she can do so she can compress time."

"For what purpose?" Selphie asked.

"The past, present, and future would all be compressed and she would rule. She is the only one who would be able to exist in a such a world, she and no other. Her heart is filled with anger and hate. She fears something from her present's past, from our time. I believe she is trying to compress time to prevent whatever it is from coming to pass." Edea went silent and drank some of her water.

". . .So she needs Ellone to achieve it. Okay. Do you know if there is any reason she would go after Adel?"

"Sorceress Adel is the type who will not hesitate to use her powers for her own selfish desires. Combined their power would be unimaginable, and Adel would have reason to go after Ellone as well, as she escaped once already." She finally seemed to realize something and turned her gaze on Laguna. "I know you."

"Yes," he replied. "I came to your orphanage years ago in search of my little Elle."

"Uncle Laguna," Edea said softly. "Correct?"

Laguna grinned goofily and nodded, then handed her a pastry in case she was hungry.

Squall leaned against Seifer and said quietly, "She must have forced Edea to pass on her powers to someone in Martine's office right before the trap took effect. Maybe she saw something suspicious about the situation, but it was too late to back away from it by then. Now she's somewhere over here in a new body, probably furious because Adel is already gone."

Seifer said back, "So we did screw up her plans, but not enough, unfortunately. We can seal as many sorceresses as we like, but we can't get to Ultimecia. And if every sorceress alive now were sealed, no one would be available to pass on her powers so that in the future Ultimecia would even be one."

"And since she is, and this is the past to her, then we obviously don't find all of them or most of them are nonthreatening. So the only way to get to the source is to go forward."

"Through Time Compression," they said together.

"Well, shit," Seifer said.

"Agreed," Irvine chimed in sourly. "Because if we defeat her during Time Compression paradox is averted."

"I don't like it," he said. "It means placing Ellone in danger." He suddenly realized that everyone else had also been listening in.

"You lost me," Laguna confessed.

Squall shifted so he could face him. "Dad, Ellone can't send someone she doesn't know back, nor can she send anyone to someone she didn't know in the past. The only possible sorceresses that makes sense back then is Adel. But Ellone doesn't know whoever Ultimecia is currently inhabiting. If she did she could just connect from anywhere, just like she did with me."

"Oh! I get it." Laguna's shoulders slumped. "Damn."

Beeping sounded from the desk and Kiros hastened over to answer it. "Kiros here. I see. Send one of them to the office immediately." After hanging up he returned and sat down. "Lunatic Pandora was brought nearer the city and a small army disembarked to advance on the city. Several of our soldiers were able to witness Ultimecia leading them, but she was thwarted by the city's shields and retreated. However, her people continue to advance. Our military is defending the city so you are not needed there to help. It does mean she may try to trick us, though, somehow."

"A small army is advancing on us and we shouldn't worry?" Seifer asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Esthar's military strength far outweighs that of Galbadia. We knew it was only a matter of time before they started trying to take more territory, and despite our protections we wished to be prepared for such an eventuality."

Selphie snapped her fingers and pointed at nothing in particular. "We use a decoy!"

"Darlin'?"

"Dress someone up—like me, as an example—to look like Ellone. Dress Ellone up as someone else. Or maybe forget the decoy and just disguise Ellone. The point is to get her into a position somehow so she can do whatever it is she needs to do to be able to connect. Then whisk her away to safety and let her do her thing from there." She pinned Kiros with a stare. "Are there any such things as OCS suits? Maybe panels we can toss up to resemble a large rock?"

Laguna scurried over to the desk and tapped a few things, said, "Ward, it's safe to bring Ellone to me," then came back and sat on the arm of the couch next to Squall. "If nothing else we can ask her about what she'd need to do. But if Ellone agrees to help, much as I abhor the idea of placing her anywhere near danger, we must do everything we can to keep her safe."

. . .

A few minions died to momentarily appease her rage and Ultimecia was sitting there staring at her reflection, working out a new plan of attack. She ignored the knock on the wall at the entrance to the room and let her 'knight' answer it, only paying attention when she recognized the girl being dragged in. "Report," she ordered.

"My lady," one of the soldiers said, "she was found outside Lunatic Pandora by my patrol. "She _claims_ she wasn't spying, but she's obviously not one of ours. We brought her to you for disposition."

Ultimecia rotated her chair so she was facing them directly. "So, the foolish little girl is back. Come with another pathetic plan, have you?"

"No! I was trying to get to the safety of the city!" the girl sobbed in fear. "Please let me go!"

"Oh, I don't think so, child," she purred. "Since you were stupid enough to come anywhere near me again I'll use you for my latest plan. A little subtlety on my part will serve me well this time."

. . .

Nida felt like he was waking up from a nightmare in which he could see and hear and smell everything around him, but where he had no conscious control over himself. Something about those wide, pleading brown eyes had shaken him. She—she was so familiar. Why? Why did she look at him that way, as if she knew him? He watched in a daze as the sorceress and the girl simultaneously collapsed, trying to make sense of what was happening, but feeling no compelling reason to act.

The girl suddenly stood up, her entire demeanor changed. Fingers methodically wiped away tears as she gazed at the body on the floor. "The changes should hold for long enough," she muttered, then turned around. "Knight," she snapped. "Take my former body toward the city and along the border, but do not attempt to cross it. Make it appear as though the defending soldiers have forced you to abandon me to their mercy. Flee, and return here."

He repeated her instructions automatically and said, "Yes, my lady." Nida moved forward and crouched so he could heft the still breathing form into his arms, then rose and began to leave.

"You three," the girl said. "Escort him past our perimeter so he is not stopped by our people thinking he does something wrong. Get him as close as you can to the city before retreating."

"Yes, my lady!"

Some time later he was on his own, the sorceress's former body cradled in his arms. He looked around and drifted to a stop, thinking back on what he had seen. What was wrong with him? Why was he doing this? He had been sent on a mission to liberate Timber, so why was he following the orders of a sorceress? That girl. . . . A moment later he felt the barrel of a gun pressed against his temple. "I was sent here to lay a trap," he heard himself say.

. . .

"I'm not sure of exactly how long," Ellone was saying when the beeping started again.

Kiros rushed over to answer it. "Kiros here. What!"

Squall was surprised by the sheer amount of shock that shaded that simple word.

"Yes, right away. We'll be waiting. Make sure he's disarmed." Kiros hung up and said, "Ultimecia has jumped bodies again."

"For the love of—!" Seifer got up and kicked the wall again a few times.

"Our people found a young man standing around in a daze, carrying what looked like the sorceress as described to us. However, the man said he had been sent to trick us and made no attempt to resist being taken into custody. The woman he was carrying was brought through the shields without effort, which supports his claim. He should be here shortly."

Ten minutes later a sharp knock sounded and the door was pulled open. Everyone turned to look. The sight brought Squall to his feet. "Nida!"

Nida was pushed in by one of the soldiers escorting him, a somewhat dazed look on his face. "Yes, that's my name. I know you people. Some of you. Why am I having so much trouble remembering? What did she do to me?"

Seifer got up and walked over to grab Nida by the arm and hustle him over to a seat. The soldiers looked to Laguna for instructions, and were waved away. "Wait outside."

"Nida," Squall said, "snap out of it! It wasn't so long ago you made SeeD with me, Seifer, and Selphie. Do you remember?"

". . .Yes, I do now. Dollet. Timber. Garden. Deling." Nida blinked a few times and shook his head. "Squall?"

Edea coughed delicately and said, "Ultimecia subverted his mind when the assassination attempt failed, and made him believe he was her knight. He was not in Galbadia Garden when you attacked. He had been sent after Lunatic Pandora."

"Thank you, matron," Squall softly.

"She took over a girl," Nida said. "Dark hair, dark eyes, blue and black. She was . . . our client? Is that who she was?"

Squall said it before Seifer could. "Well, shit."

"But this is good!" Irvine insisted. "Ellone, was seeing Rinoa for that long enough? Do you think you can connect to her?"

She hesitated, then slowly nodded. "Yes, I think so."

"Is that who it was, Nida?" Squall persisted. "What happened before you were sent to trick us?"

"My memory of that is fine. My lady—" He shook his head. "The girl was brought in by a patrol. The sorceress recognized her, said something about 'another pathetic plan' that I didn't understand. The girl denied it and begged to be let go. The sorceress switched from her body to the girl's and instructed me to make a feint along the city border carrying her former body, to make it seem as though I was forced to abandon her to save my own life. But I was already confused by then about what I was doing—why I was doing it. So when the soldiers found me I admitted the plan."

"So she doesn't want us to know what she looks like, which means odds are she won't twist her features again," Squall mused.

"I think so," Nida said slowly. "She wanted to be subtle this time."

"Matron," Squall said, "when you were taken over, how did you react?"

"When I realized that something was trying to possess me I fled immediately from the ship. I was desperate to protect Ellone, so I willingly retreated into my soul. I did not attempt to fight her once I was safely away. If she could have read my thoughts or memories she would have found Ellone immediately."

"So you were a hidden, passive observer. All right. Rinoa may try to fight just because she's so stubborn. Ultimecia may be able to read her mind and try to use her against us."

"She has to know she can't get into the city," Irvine said, "so. . . ."

Squall looked at his father and signaled with his eyes toward Nida, then jerked his head back slightly toward the door. Laguna nodded and got up. "Nida, come with me. We'll get you a safe room to have something to eat and get some rest, okay? Your help has been invaluable."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as Nida had been handed over to the soldiers Selphie said, "Let's assume she knows that Rinoa barged into Esthar and was in the process of being kicked out when she fled. Let's assume, seeing as how Rinoa's still alive, that she got a car at the rental place and has been trying to find a way to get at Squall again."

"All right," Kiros said. "But why would that matter if Ellone can make the connection from the safety of the city?"

"She's thinking ahead to the aftermath with the assumption that we win," Squall explained, having immediately cottoned on. "Where we have to decide what to do with Rinoa, and to know where she would likely be. Ultimecia wants to get at Ellone, but can't. She'll be thinking furiously as to how Rinoa's body can be used to advantage, and she isn't even certain that Ellone is in Esthar unless she managed to rip through the minds of the white SeeDs. If we know where she is our people can swoop in once Time Compression ends, knock her out in a sneak attack, and haul her off to be sealed."

Edea looked distressed by that. "She's just a girl. I was granted powers when I was a mere five years old and was never a threat to anyone."

"I'm sorry, matron," Seifer said firmly, "but we know her better than that. Rinoa is incredibly spoiled, stubborn, and refuses to live in the real world. The idea of her with that kind of power makes me shudder. She's the type who's likely to go mad with it and we can't afford to be planning for a third sorceress war while we're still in the second one. Maybe if she'd been lucky enough to be raised by you she'd be a sweet girl, but she wasn't, and she's not."

"I suppose I cannot object, then," she said quietly.

"Find a way to make sure there's an Ellone sighting?" Irvine suggested. "At least then we'd know she's lurking somewhere outside the city. Maybe we could set drones on her to keep an eye out?"

"Well, we used a hologram to trick Adel," Laguna said, "but I don't think that would work this time. And we can't do anything too obvious or she'll probably suspect another trap of some kind."

Squall had to assume his father was being so serious because Ellone's safety was at stake. "Matron, as a sorceress, you must have had some fast method of travel?" he hazarded.

"Yes. I could either move myself to a place I could see within a certain distance but was not familiar with, or to places I had already been over great distances."

"I'm just wondering if a drone could keep up with a sorceress traveling that way," he said for the benefit of the others. "This is assuming Ultimecia stays in Esthar. Though if she still has Galbadia Garden under her control she might move back and forth between Esthar and G-Garden to check up on whatever they're doing. Actually, maybe I have a better idea. Sis, I know that you weren't paying attention to where I was whenever you connected to me, but if you actively wanted to know, could you?"

"I don't know?" she said.

"Can you connect and not actually do anything? Not send the person you're connected to back into the past?"

"I think so?"

Irvine jumped in with, "Can you connect to, say, Quistis, and see where she is, then disconnect?"

"I can try, but you know I promised you all I wouldn't do it again without permission. I can't exactly ask Quistis if it's okay."

"Er, good point. But I think in this case because all you're going to do is try for a quick look at her surroundings, it'd be okay. You wouldn't be forcing her to do anything—but she might still get knocked out."

Selphie got up and grabbed Irvine's arm. "Irvine and I are going to go somewhere. We still have our coms, so when we get wherever it is we're going we'll let you know. Then Ellone can try to connect to one of us and see where we are. Since I plan to choose a safe location there won't be any concerns about danger."

"Sounds good," Squall said.

While those two were off finding a spot for the experiment Squall turned to Edea and said, "Once all of this mess is over we can see about reuniting you with Headmaster Cid."

"Yes. I would enjoy that. For the moment, however, while all of this is very exciting, it is also very tiring. Would it be possible for someone to show me to a place where I can rest?"

Laguna jumped up and nodded. "Sure! You come with me and I'll find you a guest suite. Even show you how to order up a meal or whatever."

Edea stood and accepted Laguna's arm, and off they went.

"We should drop Nida off at Balamb Garden at the same time," Seifer said. "Assuming he even still wants to be a SeeD."

Squall leaned against Seifer again and nodded.

Odine was apparently tired of being ignored. "Tell me, young persons, you have Guardian Forces, correct?"

"Why?"

"The girl's connection ability is similar to interfacing with a Guardian Force. And I use that term knowingly!" Odine pulled a device out of his pocket and held it out. "This! More of my genius! Take it!"

Squall sat up straight and accepted it. The device vaguely resembled a vambrace, with straps to hold it to one's forearm, but the surface was a screen of some kind.

"It is not harmful!" Odine said. "That holds copies of several Guardian Forces. Cerberus, Carbuncle, and Alexander."

"Well we already knew a computer could store them," Seifer said.

"It is not just storage!" Odine said indignantly and produced another of the devices. He got up and moved away, placing the device on the conference table, then walked half the distance between it and the sitting area. "Try to draw from me. You will see I have nothing."

Squall arched a brow and stood up, handing his device to Seifer, then called upon the GF-innate ability to draw. Odine had nothing, just as he said. No magic and no Guardian Forces. "All right," he said, then sat back down.

Laguna returned just as Odine was strapping the other one on. "Now, watch." Odine furrowed his brow and suddenly a reflective shield sprang up around him. "If you were to try to draw from me again you would still find nothing. They are in the device. The device acts as an intermediary to allow the wearer to connect to and utilize the abilities of any Guardian Force stored within."

"What about magic drawn to junction to enhance a person beyond human limitations?" Seifer asked.

"The magic is still within the body," Odine said, removing the device and returning to his seat. "My research has shown that the use of Guardian Forces as you young persons utilize—"

Whatever he had been about to say was interrupted by the com crackling and the voice of Selphie saying, "We're in position."

Odine flailed his arms around angrily at being interrupted, but subsided into silence.

"All right," Squall said. "Sis, will you step outside for just a moment, please? I'd like to know where they are in case both of them get knocked unconscious. Then we can try the experiment." Once she was gone he sent, "Quietly, please. What's your location?"

"Room 254 at the Regent. The most distinctive thing out the window we can clearly see is a sign for Johnny's advertising a sale on healing items."

"Good."

Laguna raced out to get Ellone and she was shortly ready to try. Two minutes later of silence and she opened her eyes. "Irvine was looking down through a window at a shopping arcade. One of the stores was advertising a sale. Selphie was examining a menu for room service at the Regent."

"Guys?" Seifer sent.

"We're still awake," Selphie responded. "On our way back."

Laguna gave Ellone a bear hug as Odine coughed loudly and said, "The device."

"All right, little man," Seifer said. "What about it?"

Odine glared. "You can store as many Guardian Forces as you like within you, but can only utilize a handful of their abilities at any given time. The human brain only allows for so much. Using the device as an intermediary means you can use all of them. And if wearers are close enough to each other they can share, even if the devices they wear do not have the same GFs stored within."

Squall raised his brows. "That could potentially be very useful. Any side effects?"

"Of course not!" Odine shouted, looking offended. "All of the test subjects lived perfectly normal lives until they suffered an unfortunate accident after my research was done." He looked puzzled by the skeptical looks he was receiving and added, "It was a horrible tragedy! A hover-bus full of nuns from the Order of Hyne on the way to a potluck supper to raise funds for their convent crashed into—"

"Right," Squall cut in. "We get it."


	11. Eleven

**Written**: 17-19 June 2011

**Notes**: This was going to go into one more chapter, but that ended up only being about 2k words, so this chapter just ended up a bit longer than normal instead. I almost included a really cliché "scene" of sorts in this, but changed it in favor of something more honest and realistic.

* * *

"The rough plan for now is this," he said once everyone was present again. "Ellone connects to Rinoa and sends her back to Adel of the past, Ultimecia riding along. Ultimecia begins Time Compression. We move forward through time while this is happening and confront her directly, defeat her, and return to our time when time begins to decompress again. Ellone keeps an eye on where Rinoa is so Esthar forces can capture her and bring her to the memorial to be sealed. After that, once we can do it, her tomb is taken to space and given a push. I think we should play it safe and try to delay a day or so to test out our new interfaces, but if Ultimecia abandons her plan of subtlety we may not have that luxury."

"How exactly are we going to move 'forward' through time?" Irvine asked. "I mean, time is distance, but. . . ."

"You move to the center of the disturbance," Odine replied. "But since time will be all mixed up you young persons should agree on a place to meet so you will be together on this journey."

"A place to meet," Selphie muttered. "We'd all be together anyway, wouldn't we? Such as right here."

"Perhaps. We cannot know until it happens what form compression will take and how it will affect our surroundings. The same applies to the journey back, assuming you win. It would be foolish to return to a when not yours. You think about that," Odine proclaimed, then took him off to do whatever it was mad scientists do.

"How about lunch?" Laguna suggested cheerily.

An hour later Squall was out in Esthar City getting used to the interface he was wearing. The Lunar Cry had caused an influx of monsters on the streets and a good number of soldiers were out there dealing with them, but it was also the perfect opportunity for testing. Fujin and Raijin had joined them, having decided that a potentially world-ending crisis was the time to step up and assist rather than making plans for a restaurant, so the six of them were battling monsters near the palace.

The device did indeed work as promised, and it also had a few extras, such as blanket protection from negative effects aside from death. Squall and the others did keep their internally stored GFs (after all, technology could fail at the most awkward of times), but all were also copied to the devices, making it possible to forego the use of healing potions and revival items. And with a few taps on the screen he could enable or disable various abilities such as automatic shielding for reduction in physical damage taken, magical damage taken, having the GFs alert to prevent anyone sneaking up on him, and so forth. The main issue was with differentiating which copy of a GF one was trying to connect to—or rather, which location.

They all trooped back to their wing to order dinner in the communal room, then split up for the evening. Squall was just opening the door to his apartment when Seifer said, "I'll join you after I grab a shower."

Squall shrugged and entered his suite, leaving the door ajar, and headed for the bathroom. His clothes were tossed into the laundry chute—and how nice was that?—and he stepped into the shower and adjusted the controls. He was out in ten minutes and lazing around in just a pair of boxer-briefs when Seifer reappeared and joined him on the sofa.

"So how do you feel about the interfaces?"

He lowered the television volume. "I like them, they're really useful. No one seemed to have any difficulties with them, either. I especially like that we can use them as communication devices by echoing our thoughts through a stored GF to its counterparts. Though, no private channels unless not everyone has the same ones."

"True, but maybe with a little effort and testing we could refine that so it doesn't echo to every instance. The GFs have sentience of a sort."

He was distracted from responding to that by a report on the news, showing—them. "They had cameras going out there?"

"—can see, it is not only our brave soldiers who are risking their lives to make our streets safe once again, but also this sextet of fighters. Rumor has it that they're the results of a genetic experiment by Dr Odine, which might explain their superhuman abilities, but this reporter overheard a palace functionary and now understands that the group is actually an elite fighting force answerable only to the president. They spent—"

"Since when is spreading rumors reporting?" Seifer complained.

"—and were spotted entering the palace this evening. In other news—"

Squall hit the off button on the remote and tossed it on the table as he got up to answer a knock at the door. "Well, if Raijin and Fujin open a restaurant after all this around here, they might do well from the start depending on how many people watched that," he commented, then opened his door. "Hey."

"Oh, um, we're not interrupting anything, are we?" Selphie asked, eyeing his state of undress.

"No, come on in." He returned to his seat, ignoring the slightly disgruntled look on Seifer's face. "What's up?"

Selphie sat down and said, "We were just talking about the upcoming mission is all, speculating on what it is we might find once we get _there—_wherever there is."

"The complete uncertainty of it is a bit nerve-wracking," Irvine admitted.

"She's an evil witch, right?" Seifer said. "So let's imagine she's got a creepy castle that's way too big to make any sense, spooky fog effects, secret rooms, dungeons, and probably a bunch of monster minions guarding doors that really don't need guarding."

Selphie pursed her lips. "You've been watching those old B movies, haven't you."

"I admit, I do get a kick out of them. There's something relaxing about laughing yourself silly over the 'special' effects for a movie that's supposed to make you scared."

"There was another reason we dropped by, actually." Irvine pulled a small object out of his pocket along with a folder. "Kiros had an aide deliver these. Some footage from one of the more powerful drones along with an activity report on Balamb Garden."

Squall leaned forward in interest. "Anything of note?"

"We read through the folder, but haven't watched the footage yet. Basically it's a run down of where Balamb Garden has been. After they got repairs done at Fisherman's Horizon they returned to Balamb, only to find Galbadia there occupying the town. I guess there was a bit of a kerfuffle and the Galbadians left. After that it seems B-Garden decided it was their duty to check out other port towns while trying to track down the sorceress. At least, that's what's assumed, since the drones who caught all this were the lesser sorts, so no video."

"They went from there to Dollet," Selphie said, "then Timber, and ended up at Fisherman's Horizon again. I'm not sure what they think they can do if they track down the sorceress, though, not after what must have happened in Deling. Anyway, I guess the sorceress had sent G-Garden to FH, and another incident happened. That's what the video shows, supposedly."

"Bring it on," Seifer said. "Maybe we'll get to see Quistis being an idiot again."

Irvine got up and approached the television. He turned it on, slid the object in his hand into a slot on the side, then he returned to his seat. "Miniature optical drive," he explained as the screen flickered and began displaying the footage.

. . .

"Now remember," Cid was saying, "these people don't like violence, so try not to upset them. Just get the information and return. Don't get involved in anything."

Quistis nodded and departed along with Xu and Zell. "I just don't get the people in this town," she said as they exited onto the balcony and made their way around to the lift.

Xu shrugged. "It's how they want to live their lives. And in a perfect world I wouldn't think twice about it."

They received a somewhat cold reception in town and the mayor refused to see them, firmly shutting the door in their faces.

"I guess they're still mad, huh?" Zell said, and received a rather scathing look from Quistis.

"Let's just ask someone else if Galbadian forces have been here," Xu said. "The best places for information are usually bars and hotel clerks."

The barmaid could be overheard lamenting to a customer how "that cute blond" only visited once and she "never got a chance to know him better—much better", and only paid attention to them when Xu cleared her throat.

"Huh, more new people. We've been getting a few of those lately," the barmaid said, then paused as she took in their outfits. "Oh."

"Do you often get visitors?" Xu asked.

"Occasionally."

"Have Galbadian forces come through here? If not, they might. We attempted to warn the mayor, but he was unavailable."

The barmaid shook her head placidly. "Look, honey, everyone knows we don't tolerate violence here. Why would armed forces from Galbadia bother us?"

"They're searching for a—" Xu's head whipped around at the sounds coming from outside.

Zell bounced over to the window and freaked. "They're here! Galbadian soldiers are marching through town. The mayor just ran by, too." Without bothering to seek advice Zell dashed over to the door and headed out.

Xu muttered under her breath and made for the door, Quistis behind her, and followed Zell following the mayor following the soldiers to the abandoned train station. There Dobe was trying to reason with the lieutenant, but stopped when he noticed the team and shouted, "Just leave! We don't need your kind of 'help' around here!"

Quistis frowned and took a half step forward as the lieutenant grabbed Dobe by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground, then tossed the man down and stepped on his chest. Dobe wheezed, but still managed to try to reason with the officer.

Xu placed a hand on Quistis's arm. "Hey, come on."

"What? They're going to kill him. Listen to that! He's promising to burn the entire town!"

"That's right," Xu replied. "And they don't want our help. We wouldn't even be paid, and besides, the headmaster told us not to get involved in anything."

"Paid?" Quistis mouthed.

"Let's go. Now," Xu ordered.

. . .

Squall blinked at the abrupt ending. "Did the folder say what happened to Fisherman's Horizon?"

Irvine shook his head and got up to retrieve the drive.

Seifer shook his head and said, "That was cold. Saying they wouldn't get paid was Xu's reason even above the headmaster's orders?"

"If they couldn't reason with them and wouldn't fight back in self defense, their best choice would have been to jump," Selphie decided. "Even if the Galbadians torched the town the residents could have gotten back out of the water after they left and set about rebuilding."

"That assumes they didn't all die trying to talk things through," Seifer said.

"I'm not entirely surprised," Squall said. "About Xu, I mean. I overheard her after the SeeD exam saying that Garden could have made more money if Galbadia had stuck around longer."

"I guess I'm just not going to worry about whatever is waiting for us," Irvine said. "Not when things like that are happening. Come on, darlin', let's mosey."

As soon as the two were out the door Seifer said, "You know, that kind of killed the mood for me."

Squall arched a brow. That was possible?

. . .

After a morning of monster extermination on the city streets they agreed that they were ready. Over lunch the plan was discussed one more time. Laguna, somehow managing to be mostly serious again, started things off. "Okay! Ellone will find Rinoa and send her back to Adel, and since Ultimecia is already using that kind of power to be here she'll go back as well. As soon as compression begins and the boundaries between times are muddled, Ellone will pull both of them forward, and, if possible, push Ultimecia back to her own time since time will be mixed up and it'll probably work. This should at least temporarily halt compression or drastically slow it and leave the team a way to find the location of the actual physical Ultimecia. Any uncertainty of where you are should be countered by focusing on where you want to start from, preferably together, such as my office here.

"Then as a team you move through the pathways connecting all times together and see about teaching Ultimecia a lesson. Once she's dead compression should begin to revert, but you should again focus on where you want to be as you move through time again. Either here or some place with meaning for you. Then, Ellone checks up on Rinoa, verifies her location so the team can go after her, and they knock her out using whatever works. Selphie's knockout gas, probably, since it worked before. She's taken to the memorial and sealed. I have every confidence in all of you!"

'Thank heavens he didn't say anything horribly sappy,' Squall thought. "We can begin in the morning, after everyone has had a good night's rest. If necessary, take a mild tranquillizer to ease you into it."

Selphie giggled maniacally for some reason.

'I just don't want to know.'

He spent the afternoon posing for Laguna and idly talking with him and Ellone, and retired to his suite after having dinner with them. He had barely gotten to his door when Seifer's opened and he started to wonder if the blond had installed a camera for a video feed to be so incredibly timely so often. Inside they both set about maintaining their gunblades as they talked about their afternoons.

Seifer had just set his back into its case when he said, "Squall, I'm confident that nothing is going to go wrong, but—"

"Seifer, you already seduced me. You don't need a line to do it again."

To his surprise Seifer jumped up and glared at him. "What the hell?"

"I really need work on that whole joking thing," he muttered. "I apologize. I shouldn't have interrupted you with an apparently tasteless witticism."

Seifer wandered into the kitchen to grab a drink for himself, then came back. He spoke again, his voice narrowly missing the mark on speaking to Squall as if he were a child lacking in intelligence. "We should discuss where we plan to return to."

He looked down at his hands, not at all familiar with the actual shame he was feeling. "Oh." 'Well don't I just feel like a complete ass.'

After an uncomfortable silence, which just made Squall feel worse, Seifer said, "I'm going to chalk that up to nervousness and you generally not knowing what the hell tact means."

"I really am sorry," he said quietly.

Seifer heaved a sigh and sat down next to him, draping an arm around Squall's shoulders. "I'm nervous, too, but I'm confident at the same time we can do it. I can hardly stay mad at you when you're just being you. Now stop looking at your hands like you just killed my dog and let's decide where."

He looked up and over to see that Seifer was back to his usual self around him and nodded, his gaze sliding off to the right briefly before returning. "Your place or mine?"

"How about _our_ place?" Seifer had that look in his eyes again.

He considered that seriously and realized he had no particular objection to the idea. They both spent time away from each other so their relationship wasn't unhealthily dependent, and living together instead of across the hall from each other was not likely to change that. "All right. Which?"

"Yours, I think. We can worry about moving stuff later."

"You think?"

"Well, it might have something to do with Fujin and Raijin sharing the suite next to mine," Seifer replied, eyes glancing heavenward as he said it.

Squall laughed softly. "Right. So we'll return to here, _our_ home."

"Now, let's go to bed early so I can punish you."

He closed his eyes as a wave of anticipation rippled through his body, and let Seifer lead him away.

. . .

"Oh dear Hyne, Seifer's prediction was right!" Selphie wailed. "This whole experience is ruined!"

"There, there, darlin'," Irvine said, stroking her hair as he held her. "It's all right. It just means we can make fun of the place while we're here."

Squall looked at the castle in front of them and sighed.

"It was a joke!" Seifer protested. "What kind of a real villain does this shit?"

Halfway to the imposing double-door entrance Squall realized something was off. He had taken to leaving his jacket off for fighting due to occasionally needing to access the interface. In consequence, as they were all wearing the "uniform" Selphie had chosen for them, his arms were bare. And his interface was no longer strapped to his arm. "Hn. Guys? There seems to be a slight technical issue at hand."

Seifer moved to face him and grab his shoulders. "Don't say things like that! It's bad enough we just got dropped into a cheesy horror flick set."

Squall smiled faintly. "My interface is now _a part_ of my arm."

Seifer looked down and did a double take, then let go so he could take his jacket off and check his own arm. "O—kay."

He looked at the others; they were all nodding and bearing expressions of confusion. Squall brought his arm up and tapped it, then blinked when it lit up just like the interface should and showed what the settings currently were. "No side effects, huh? Maybe it will revert once the compression ends," he mused, rubbing his forehead in mild consternation. "There's obviously nothing we can do about it right now, so let's move on."

And they did, up the wide flight of steps, through the 'spooky' mist spilling out from under the doorway, and into a entrance hall that looked like something ripped straight out of those movies Seifer was so fond of. Grime, cobwebs, candelabras—it was all there, along with the traditional red carpet runner for the stairs and red velvet-upholstered chairs which probably had not been used in decades. As he was looking around he felt a strange sensation wash over him and frowned.

Selphie shivered in an exaggerated manner. "I wonder what that was. Oh, hm. There's a minion up at the top of those stairs. What number is that on the checklist, Irvy?"

"Sorry, darlin', I forgot to bring it with me. I'll make it up to you later."

When they approached the creature it spoke just prior to attacking. "Face my wrath for seeking thy sealed power."

Squall arched a brow. 'Sealed power?' Not knowing just by the look of it what they were facing he used Scan to get an idea, and Sphinxaur was defeated almost before he could assimilate the information, only to rise back up again in a slightly different form. That was also handily defeated. Squall started laughing.

"I know it was easy, Squall, but really," Seifer scolded.

"These things are supposed to be guardians of our sealed abilities," he replied. "Ultimecia's way, I suppose, of making us weak and hoping we'll die while fighting to get them unsealed. I can't decide if that's overconfidence on her part or because she's actually afraid of us."

"You think the interfaces. . . ?" Irvine said.

"She's obviously had direct experience with people who use Guardian Forces, enough so that she knows how to use her powers to counter them here in her domain. So yes, I think that's it. The only people who have these are us. Think back to the dead SeeDs we saw on the way here. Some of them may well have been overcome simply because they were too tired or just not well trained enough, but going by the uniforms and the faces I'd say those people were not from our time. Perhaps others got here earlier than we did because the distance in time wasn't as far as it was for us. They attacked and failed, and their bodies were tossed out as a warning and to intimidate those who followed them."

"Plausible theory," Selphie said. "Hey, let's go! We have a villain of questionable taste to kill!"

They spent quite some time checking out the various areas of the castle trying to locate where Ultimecia was waiting, defeating her minions and generally being annoyed when they weren't being amused by the failure of her plan. Eventually they came across a clock tower, which in turn led them to a long path. At the end was the only area they had yet to explore.

Irvine asked for a short break before they went in. He was having a little trouble with their method for covering any nerves and had gone a bit overboard with the laughter. Squall nodded and everyone broke out some rations to eat while Irvine regained his composure. When he did signal his readiness—coincidentally right after Selphie kissed him passionately and whispered something in his ear—they gave themselves one final check and headed in.

Looking back on it later in his life Squall would remember the fight against Ultimecia as a blur of threats, grand speeches, curses, and an almost stereotypical scene where the bad guy lost. During the actual battle he was too busy fighting the urge to snigger on seeing how Seifer reacted to really feel all that concerned. But once it was over the entire area—the world, perhaps—went white.

"Is it over? Let's go! Let's go back to our time!" he heard Irvine say with nervousness evident in his voice. Their victory complete, it was obvious he could not bring himself to even attempt to hide it any longer.

"Just calm down and think where we have to go," Selphie replied.

"Home!"

"Absolutely, ya know!"

"Squall, let's go find—" he heard Seifer say before his voice cut off, triggering something in his memory.

Except that Squall was no longer moving through the endless white vista, but rather one of black, a black which was slowly lightening up, and with it bringing a male child.

"I'm gonna go find Sis!" the boy said.

And then the black fled, revealing to Squall the orphanage he once lived in, just as it was then.

"Squall," a familiar female voice called.

He turned to see Matron Edea.

She was looking for someone or something, and noticed him. "Excuse me. Have you seen a little boy?"

"He'll be fine." 'In the end, anyway.' "I don't think you need to worry."

Edea took a step forward, a faintly puzzled look on her face as she gazed at him, then turned suddenly as a coruscation erupted off to the side. Squall's eyes widened as he took in the sight of Ultimecia emerging from the light and staggering toward them. "You're still alive?"

"A sorceress. . . ."

"Yes, matron. We were forced to defeat her. Stand back," he said, moving to protect her.

"It's all right. The sorceress is only looking for someone to bequeath her powers unto, so there is no need to fight again. In order to die in peace a sorceress must be free of all her powers. I know, for I am one, too." She stepped forward. "I will assume her powers. Far better I do so than burden one of the children."

Ultimecia seemed resistant to the end, and to Squall's eyes looked to be locked in an endless agony of trying to retain her power in the face of certain death. Even as she denied her fate her powers were passed on to Edea, and then she slowly crumpled to the ground and vanished.

"Matron!"

Edea, having been driven to her knees with the transfer, rose and turned to face him. "You call me matron. Why is this? Who are you?"

"I'm a—no, I _was_ a SeeD, from Balamb Garden. You and your husband founded it. Garden trains SeeDs. SeeDs are trained to defeat—" What to say? How to put it? "Trained to defeat people like her, who looked to enslave the world."

"What are you saying?" she replied, then her eyes widened with some kind of realization. "You're the boy," she whispered, "but from the future?"

She'd had no idea, and he was inadvertently responsible for setting her on a path to her future, and his past. "Matron. . . ."

She still looked confused, but resolute. "Please return. You do not belong here," she said as the child came running back.

"I can't find where she's hiding!" the boy cried, then noticed Squall. "Who's he?"

Edea placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "No one you should worry about. The only Squall permitted here is you. Now continue your game." She gave him a gentle push and waited for the boy to race off. "Do you know where to return to? Do you know how? Will you be all right?"

Squall snapped off a crisp salute despite the mild bemusement he was feeling and nodded. As he did so the scene before him swiftly faded to black. He knew exactly where to go and how to do it. 'Just concentrate on Seifer. _My_ Seifer. _Our_ home. We have a life to live and I'll be damned if I'm going to take any more side trips. Though Selphie might be amused at how I "changed" something in the past and have the perfect example for her rather disjointed explanation to Ellone.'

The black lightened to white, which fuzzed and flexed and became a familiar hallway as he concentrated on his destination. He opened the door in front of him and entered, shutting it behind him with a soft click.

"Squall!" Seifer shouted, sounding and looking openly ragged. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week. His eyes were bloodshot and his clothing was in disarray. Seifer jumped up from his spot on the couch and hastened over to pull Squall into his arms and hug him so tightly Squall was afraid of suffocating.

"As glad as I am to see you again, why are you acting as though I've been missing for ages?"

"Because you have been!" Seifer whispered harshly in his ear, then released him and shifted his grip to Squall's shoulders. "You've been missing for days, Squall. I've been going out of my mind with worry."

He blinked. 'Days?' That visit with Edea and his younger self obviously took longer than it had seemed. "I'm here. I'm fine. I promised to return to here and I have, I just got a little . . . sidetracked . . . along the way." He cupped Seifer's face with one hand and leaned up to give him a reassuring kiss. "I'm here. I'm fine," he repeated. "I'm real," he added when Seifer just looked at him like he was a tangible hallucination.

Seifer gave him a jerky nod and pulled him over to the sofa to sit with him, then reached down and removed the interface from Squall's arm. "They reverted, thankfully. I think I spent a good hour ranting at Odine, most of that after he had the balls to point out that testing during Time Compression wasn't exactly a viable option previously and wasn't it nice of us to do it for him."

He smiled faintly, though a bit disappointed that he had not witnessed it for himself, and set his gunblade on the coffee table.

"Now what do you mean you got sidetracked?"

Squall explained about the delay in his return, then frowned. "Now I'm confused about the plans we made. If Rinoa gets sealed and shot into space, how do the powers she holds, which came from Edea, which came from some nameless sorceress and Ultimecia combined—how do those pass through time and eventually end up with Ultimecia?"

Seifer coughed. "Er, about that. While you were missing we captured Rinoa—I say we, but I mean everyone but me since I was waiting for you to return. She was captured and they tried to seal her, but the process failed for some reason. I think now I understand why. Odine was called in to help and he managed to force her to split her powers, though we're not entirely sure exactly who they went to. The point being, there shouldn't be any sorceress out there right now who's all that strong. Rinoa was promptly booted out of Esthar after Odine verified that she's just a normal human being again and dropped off in Timber. She claimed she remembered being brought before the sorceress, but nothing after that. She might even be telling the truth."

Squall shrugged. "So long as she doesn't do something stupid like purposely seek out sorceresses and try to acquire their powers. . . . Maybe she should be kept under drone watch?"

"Kiros already arranged for that. Odine tinkered with a flight of drones. They won't actually record anything unless she's in the presence of a sorceress. It's so her basic right to privacy is honored. But if she's near one, all bets are off. And if she somehow gains some of those powers back she'll end up sealed and shot into space."

He was satisfied with that. Rinoa would have the chance to mature and grow and live her life. But if she stepped across that line. . . . "I miss anything else exciting?"

"Yes," Seifer said with a nod, "if you consider me exciting."

Squall smirked. "I definitely do." He got up, drawing Seifer with him, and led him off to the bathroom. And while a shower was tempting for its brevity, he instead chose to start the huge jacuzzi tub to filling before he began stripping off his clothing. Seifer quickly joined him and soon enough they were situated in the almost too hot water. If nothing else Squall was pleased that his lover was starting to look sleepy from the heat and forced relaxation. Seifer always took care of him, and it was time to return the favor. He washed himself quickly, pushing away Seifer's hand when he went to take the cloth from him, then set about languorously soaping his lover's skin. Before long Seifer looked as though he could hardly keep his eyes open so Squall quickly washed his own hair, then spent a little more time on Seifer's before nudging the switch to drain the tub and getting out.

"Come on," he coaxed, helping Seifer from the tub and keeping him steady as he dried both of them off. "Time to rest." And soon enough they were beneath the covers and Seifer was snuggled up against his back, holding him, sleeping peacefully. 'Not that I really doubted him before, but I think his feelings are a lot deeper than he's admitted to. Do I feel the same way? I like him a lot. How he treats me. How he makes me feel. I miss him when we're apart, but not desperately. But that's a good thing, right? I'm still me, he's still himself, and I don't feel some damn fool notion that I have to change or to change him. I can't say that it's love yet, but I can say I have no intention of letting him go. So I just won't worry about it. I care about him, he obviously cares about me, and we'll just go from there.' Having worked that out in his head he drifted off to sleep.

He woke to the delicious sensations of Seifer trying to suck him dry and was cast into an almost delirious trance by it. He was so damn close when his lover pulled away and whispered, "Let me. . . ."

"Yes," he whispered back.

Seifer reached into the bedside table drawer and withdrew a bottle of oil. Squall was shortly being buggered by his lover's thumbs even as Seifer paid enough attention to his cock to keep him on edge. When they did finally join he was aching so badly, and slightly surprised to see the sheer depth of emotion in his lover's eyes. It made him wonder how his own appeared to Seifer's intent gaze. But who could hold a thought like that when his eyes were rolling back and his body arching as an orgasm ripped through him and left him a shattered mess. Seifer collapsed over him shortly after, panting harshly.

"That was one hell of a good morning," he murmured a few minutes later.

Seifer leered at him in response, then said, "We should let everyone know you're back. Well, after we shower and get something to eat."

Breakfast was simple and quick, and they were soon enough on their way to Laguna's office. The others were not around, and Seifer was not sure where they'd be—they checked up on him daily, but usually not until afternoon or evening. They were, in fact, sharing space around the conference table, and looked delighted to see Squall again, healthy and whole. But it was Laguna who jumped up from his seat and rushed over to wrap Squall in a hug.

"We thought you were lost in time," Laguna whispered.

'Well, I gathered that,' he thought dryly, unwilling to actually speak the words. His father's reaction was not unexpected. He brought his arms up to briefly return the hug, then gently extricated himself from the entirely unfamiliar expression of parental love. "I'm fine. It's all right now."

Laguna steered him over to the table and pushed him into a seat, grinning goofily, and those around him murmured greetings or expressed their pleasure that he was back.

"Seifer already told me about how Rinoa was and is being dealt with. What about Edea and Nida?"

"We were hoping to wait until you returned," Selphie said. "Matron seemed to think you'd be fine, though."

And if Edea was Cid's wife, and she 'originated' the idea of Garden and SeeD, and he knew of the encounter, well, that might have _something_ to do with why he had been chosen for the Timber mission. He hummed noncommittally, then asked about the plans to briefly return to Balamb Garden.

. . .

Garden was back at Balamb, possibly for lack of any real leads. Selphie landed nearby and they piled out, Selphie and Irvine staying behind in the camouflaged ship. The entrance path no longer quite matched up correctly with the ground, but it was no trouble to manage the difference and the party was shortly through the turnstiles and approaching the directory.

"I suppose we could nab a passing student," Seifer murmured.

"No need," he replied with a nod of his head. "Look there."

Quistis had spotted them and she did not look happy. She hastened over and stopped a few feet away. "Come crawling back, have you?" she said snidely, seemingly not yet noticing anyone beyond Squall and Seifer. Apparently she was still smarting from before.

It was all he could do not to laugh in her face; Seifer certainly didn't refrain from snickering quietly. But Squall wished to at least look like he had manners at the outset. "Trepe, how . . . delightful. I see you've not changed. We have dropped by for a simple enough purpose, to return—"

"You think you can just waltz back in here like nothing happened?"

Squall arched a brow at the interruption, then continued as if it had not happened. "To return a missing member of Garden, and to facilitate the reunion of Headmaster Cid with his wife."

Quistis finally seemed to see beyond the pair and to who was behind them when Xu walked up and asked, "What's going on here?"

"Xu," he said. "As I was just saying to Trepe, we have escorted Mrs Kramer and Nida Maller here."

Judging by the veiled curiosity in their eyes neither one of them knew Mrs Kramer from a strange lady on the street, which meant Cid had never clued them in. How droll.

"Please come with me," Xu said. "I'll take you to the headmaster." Her presence seemed to quell any thoughts Quistis might have had toward speech and the short trip passed in silence.

Cid did not give anyone the chance to speak once they entered his office; he was across the room faster than anyone would have imagined possible and cupping Edea's face with one hand. "How?" he whispered.

She just smiled faintly and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "I have quite a story to tell you, though perhaps not all at once. Rest assured that everything is fine now. We owe Squall and the others a great debt."

"No, matron. No debts," he said firmly.

Quistis finally bought a clue. Her eyed widened almost comically and she stepped back, her hand twitching toward her weapon.

Squall faced her directly and said coldly, "I wouldn't if I were you."

"You brought the sorceress into Garden?" she hissed, missing the pained look which crossed Edea's face.

"Not at all. I brought Mrs Edea Kramer, co-founder of Balamb Garden and SeeD. And, of course, Nida Maller, who has been of invaluable assistance. You don't have to like me, Trepe, but you do have deal with the fact that I know more about this situation than you do."

"I know what I saw! She messed with his mind! Turned him against us!"

"_Mrs Kramer_ did nothing to him," he replied with a slight edge. "Perhaps if you would be silent and let her speak you would know that."

She scoffed, then shot a look of disbelief at the headmaster when he said, "I agree."

"Simmer down, Trepe," Seifer drawled. "You don't know what happened and you won't unless you shut the hell up. Just because you were running around chasing your tail doesn't mean the rest of us weren't busy setting things right."

Cid offered Edea his arm, then led her over to a sitting area off to one side. Squall and Seifer followed, along with Xu, and Nida brought up the rear with sputtering Quistis. Edea gave her husband a simply lovely smile and told her part of the story, which mainly consisted of her awareness of the intrusion in her mind, her flight to separate herself from Ellone, and then knowing next to nothing until she had been awakened in Esthar. Then she gestured gracefully to Squall and Seifer.

Squall took up the narrative summary from his team's perspective, casting an apologetic look at Edea when he got to her being sealed, and deliberately excluding any references to the interfaces or other technology Esthar commanded. "Once we knew exactly which body Ultimecia was possessing and that Ellone could assist from a position of safety, we went ahead with the plan. We confronted Ultimecia in her castle and defeated her, then returned to our proper time."

"And Miss Heartilly?" Cid asked.

"Back to being a normal human thanks to Dr Odine, and returned to Timber."

Cid nodded, looking far more aware and less vague than Squall had ever seen. "You say there are no debts, but you and your team do have my deepest gratitude. You as well, Mr Maller, for shaking off Ultimecia's control and surrendering yourself to the defenders of Esthar so you could expose her plan."

Nida ducked his head and muttered something unintelligible, but seemed pleased.

"Will you be returning to us?" Cid asked, either missing or ignoring the sudden frown from Quistis.

"No, sir. We're happy in our current employment. Matron does look different now, but someone might have recognized her regardless. Nida is an excellent fighter, but we deemed it unwise to not come as well, just in case someone attempted something . . . foolish. . . before all the facts were known." A slight hiss told him that Quistis had taken that for a potshot at her, but he kept his eyes on Cid and his expression unchanged. "But now, if you'll excuse us, we really should be getting back."

"Of course, of course," Cid said genially.

"My boys, all grown up," Edea said. "Though your language does leave something to be desired at times."

Squall smirked and Seifer laughed, and then they left, thankful to be going home. As they were walking along the path past the turnstiles Seifer said quietly, "You know, I think it was better that we behaved—mostly."

"I sincerely doubt we could have gotten into a shouting match with Trepe without Edea getting involved. Just imagine how all of this might have gone if I'd never kissed you that day."

Seifer laughed and slung an arm around his shoulders. "I'd rather not even try. Now let's go home."

— **The End —**

* * *

Please note that a PDF copy of this story is available from Grazhir (URL in my profile) as well as a .rar copy in Mobi-format.

I suggest that if you own an e-reader check out Calibre (calibre-ebook . com) so that you can convert my Mobi copy to whatever format you may need. And besides, that program is really handy for managing the non-DRM contents of whatever e-reader you may have. It's easy enough to learn to how to use, as well.


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